The Princess and the Rose
by J. Van A
Summary: Medieval-ish Fantasy AU. A chance encounter leads to an unforgettable journey. The Princess of Atlas disappears from her home country and heads out on a mission of revenge. During an encounter with the creatures of grimm, she runs into a farm hand with a large scythe. Join as these two form a bond and take down a killer and uncover a more nefarious plot.
1. The Fateful Meeting

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A, here with The Princess and the Rose! I know that if some people had clicked on this chapter before, there was a different intro talking about OC stories and how this one wasn't one. I decided that since it's almost been two years since the initial release, I would update this.**

 **So, if you're reading this, you might be thinking, 'Man, this story has over 300k words, which is more than a novel. Why would I waste my time reading this?'**

…

 **I don't really have a great response for that. If you choose not to read this fic because it's long, I wouldn't blame you. I'm barely even able to read a fic half that size.**

 **I will tell you this: this fanfic is a medieval-ish slow burn WhiteRose AU. The writing is a bit rough in the beginning because, well, it was two years ago, and my writing wasn't that great (it can still be a bit bad, to be honest).**

 **This started off as a hobby that I barely took seriously, but eventually, with the support of my readers and friends I made on this site, I was able to make this story a passion project worth reading (for the most part).**

 **I hope you enjoy this story as much as I had writing it.**

* * *

Running, that was all the hooded figure could do as the creatures of grimm were chasing her through the woods. Eventually, the girl could see a field of wheat ahead of her, which meant farmers, and that meant help. Running into the field, the hooded girl ran as fast as she could, hoping that the tall wheat could disguise her, but grimm had excellent sense of smell, managing to stay a few paces behind her.

"Help!" the girl screamed as she ran through the field hearing the grimm chasing after her. She winced as her shoulder hit a scarecrow post, opening the claw marks on her arm that she thought had closed. "Somebody, help!"

She suddenly burst out of the wheat field to the unusual sight of a silver-eyed girl drinking a bottle of milk while resting a large farming scythe on her shoulder.

"Help!" the hooded girl screamed falling to her knees from exhaustion just as a large beowolf burst through the field behind her.

Immediately, the farm hand dropped her bottle of milk and ran towards the hooded girl just in time to hook the beowolf's claws before it could attack the hooded girl. After redirecting the beowolf's claw, she hit it in the face with the back end of the scythe's haft. Then she spun around, cutting the grimm's head clean off.

Another grimm suddenly burst from the field, so she had to quickly cut off its arm before stabbing it in the chest and pulling the blade up, cutting through the creature's chest and neck. Then the girl slashed into the field of wheat, cutting a large arc of the grain, revealing the bottom half of a grimm that was standing there previously.

"Thank you," the hooded girl said just before falling to the ground.

* * *

"Ahh!" the girl screamed as she suddenly woke up, throwing the bed covers off herself. Feeling the fabric under her hands, she immediately stopped panicking. "Wait… bed covers?" she asked herself while looking around the room she was in. She could see the room was rather plain with a nightstand next to her and a small bookshelf with a mirror next to a dresser across the room. In the mirror she could see her reflection and noticed clean bandages wrapped around her shoulder.

She then noticed on a chair next to her was a folded up brown cloak under her white outfit. On top of the clothing, she saw her hairpin and necklace next to her jeweled bracelet. _'All of my jewelry is still here,_ ' she thought to herself as she threw back the covers and saw the bandages on her legs.

"Hello?" the girl asked the open room as she placed one foot down on the ground, immediately wincing from the pain of the claw mark on her leg.

The door slowly opened and the farm girl from before walked in carrying a tray of food. "Oh hey, don't get up," the girl told her as she walked over to the bed. "Uncle Qrow said it's surprising that you weren't injured worse, considering the grimm that were chasing you."

"Where am I?" the white-haired girl asked laying back down on the bed as the crimsonette placed the tray of food in front of her.

"You are on the Branwen Farm, the main supplier of grain to the island of patch and some of Vale," the girl said somewhat proudly. The then realized the white-haired girl was blankly staring at her. "Uhh, anyway, you're in my uncle's house. I brought you here after you collapsed, and my uncle cleaned your wounds. He's not here now because he had to run an errand in Vale, so he won't be back in about a week. My name's Ruby Rose, by the way."

"Weiss," she replied looking at the tray of food. On it was a simple piece of beef, lettuce, tomatoes, a bread bun and a glass of milk. "So, uhh. I should be leaving."

"You're in no condition to be traveling," Ruby told her, picking up the clothing on the chair and placing it on the nightstand before sitting down, "and it's already pretty late. So if you left now, you'd just be attacked again."

"Please, I need to go into town as soon as possible," Weiss said remembering her reason for coming to Patch.

"Well, you should spend the night here to avoid getting attacked by grimm. If you'd like, I could help you go into town," Ruby said causing Weiss to sigh, remembering how she got lost in the woods after the grimm started chasing her.

"I guess," she said, "but I don't really think a farm girl should be going to a blacksmith shop if you have to take care of a farm."

"Blacksmith?" Ruby asked having her attention suddenly drawn to the white-haired girl.

"Yes, I came to Patch to get a sword made by the legendary blacksmith, Taiyang Xiao Long," Weiss said causing Ruby to immediately burst in laughter. "What?"

" _Legendary_. Pfft," Ruby laughed, nearly falling out of her chair. "He's not legendary. He's actually pretty average, and he's also my dad."

"What?!" Weiss exclaimed, nearly knocking the tray of food up. "So you're telling me that a petty farm girl like you, is the daughter of the blacksmith _every_ blacksmith in Atlas compares their work to."

"Yeah, I guess," Ruby said still chuckling a little bit. "He helped me make that scythe I used earlier, and even he said that it was better than most things he could make."

"Then why are you working on this farm when you should be starting your apprenticeship as a blacksmith?" Weiss asked her.

"Well, that's because my sister Yang is my dad's apprentice," Ruby told Weiss nonchalantly, as if it were common knowledge. "Anyway, someone had to help Uncle Qrow on the farm."

"Then have the faunus work on the farm. If you can create that strong of weapons, you could easily make a fortune selling weapons to any king's army," Weiss told her, causing Ruby to release a short-loud laugh.

"Why would I do that? I wouldn't want my weapons to be used to kill people," Ruby said leaning back in her chair. "Anyway, my uncle doesn't use faunus labor. I mean, he hires some faunus, but they work the same of the other farm hands. Now that I think about it, most people on Patch don't abuse faunus labor like some places in Vale or Atlas."

"Then how come you people are able to make so many products for the kingdoms?"

"Well, we just do, I guess," Ruby shrugged then stood up from the chair and headed to the door, stopping just before she left. "Anyway, eat up. I'm sure you're hungry." She then left the room closing the door behind her.

"Dirty peasant food," Weiss said to herself as she pushed the tray away from herself. Immediately, she heard her stomach growl, as if to betray her. Weighing her options, she pulled the tray close and started cutting the beef. "If Winter could see me now."

* * *

" _Weiss, get out of here!" she heard her mother shout just as the younger girl watched the windows shatter, covering the floor in a thin layer of broken glass. Immediately, she saw two dark figures jump in through the open windows._

" _Mother!" Weiss screamed as she watched one of the dark figures draw their blood-red sword before stabbing the older woman in the chest._

 _She screamed at the sight of watching her mother fall to the floor before turning around and running down the castle hall. Without thinking, she bolted into a large room she recognized as her father's study. Looking around the room for a place to hide, Weiss's eyes were drawn to the large fireplace. She ran over to the fireplace and climbed up the chimney just in time to hide as the study's doors were thrown open._

" _Damn! Where is that bitch?!" a male voice shouted while walking through the room. She then heard the man let out a frustrated roar before a nearby suit of armor crashed onto the floor._

" _Adam, why are we attacking the castle? The king isn't even here. We should go to Fort Mantle and attack him directly," a girl's voice suggested, walking in front of the fireplace so Weiss could see that the person was facing away from her._

" _We don't have enough forces to attack the man's stronghold directly. The White Fang just isn't that big, but there is something else we can do," Adam said to the girl. "We can destroy everything he loves. It will eventually kill him from the inside."_

" _But don't you think we're just killing too many people? Our enemy is the kin-"_

" _As long as even a single faunus is enslaved, every Schnee is our enemy!" Adam shouted at her. "Come on, we'll check the other rooms." Weiss then winced as she heard one of her father's bookshelves crash into the floor before hearing the intruders leave._

 _Nearly an hour had passed since she had hidden herself, but Weiss's arms evenually lost their strength causing her to fall onto the ground. Laying there, she didn't cry at the loss of her mother, nor the fact that the White Fang was out to kill her. All that was going through her head was anger and one name, 'Adam.'_

* * *

"Aah!" Weiss shouted as she was being shaken awake. In her blind terror her fist swung out and struck the young farm hand.

"Ok, that was… interesting," Ruby grumbled, rubbing her cheek. "I was coming to wake you up, so we have time to get to town before all the stands run out of worthy goods, but when I entered you were mumbling something." Turning around, she started walking towards the door before looking back at her. "So, get changed and meet me by the stables. Also, do you know how to ride a horse?"

* * *

 **So, that was the first chapter of this story. The fateful meeting of Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee.**

 **I hope you click on the next chapter if this piqued your interest, but if not, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter anyway.**

 **I do respond to reviews, even though I didn't start until chapter 9. One of the things I thoroughly enjoy is randomly getting review notifications as a person goes through the chapters and reading their reactions. So, I encourage leaving reviews.**

 **A word of warning, I'm going to be updating these earlier chapters every few days, so if you are binge reading this story, you will hit the point where the quality of writing drops. That would be because I hadn't gotten around to fixing it at that time. On chapters I edit, I only plan to fix any spelling errors and bad sentence structures. I may edit some scenes to get rid of plot holes, but otherwise you won't be missing anything.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	2. How to Fight on Horseback

**O_o**

 **Holy -.**

 **One day. In the one day I posted this, people went nuts with the following and favoriting. I'm not complaining, but I honestly expected like three people to follow this for the first few chapters.**

 **Well then, I am J. Van A with the next chapter of The Princess and the Rose. We get some friendly conversation, horses, grimm killing, bruatal violence, and Yang.**

 **(Mini-Update Van: Well, it's not exactly a mini update. So, what I'm doing is changing the coins used in this story so it can change to make more sense down the line. Basically there are three different kinds of coins, copper, silver, and gold. 100 copper equals 1 silver, 100 silver equals 1 gold. Basically it's the fantasy rpg economy. Thus begins the long process of going through every chapter in order to change coin value.)**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

After getting changed into her white outfit, Weiss pulled her black cloak over her shoulders and left the room while fixing her hair. As she walked into the hallway, she saw Ruby putting on her boots.

She could tell that Ruby was wearing a simple black shirt, a red and black skirt, and black pants. She saw Weiss and smiled as she waved to the princess. Then, after tying her boots she stood up and grabbed a red cloth from the chair next to her. She pulled the red cloth onto her shoulders revealing that it was a crimson cloak, that Weiss decided that it suited her.

"So, where are these horses?" Weiss asked her walking to the door.

"Well, the stables next to the farm across the yard," Ruby said walking to the door grabbing the large scythe next to the door strapping it to her back having the back end of the shaft protruding near her shoulder.

"Why are you even taking that with you if we're just going into town?" Weiss asked as she followed Ruby to the stables.

"Grimm," Ruby said opening the doors to the stables. "It's five miles of forest surrounding the path to town. All Patch residents carry some form of a weapon on themselves when they travel to town. I even have a knife in my boot in case something happens to Crescent Rose."

"Crescent Rose?" Weiss asked walking into the stables behind Ruby heading down the hall.

"That's the name of my baby," Ruby said walking to the last stall petting the horse.

"But why Crescent Rose?" Weiss asked approaching the brown horse.

"Because… it's shaped like a crescent, and my last name is Rose," Ruby said handing the horse a carrot. "Who's a good girl, Chestnut?" she asked the horse stroking the side of its face getting a happy neigh in response. "We're going to town today, and so is one of your friends."

"You know that horse can't understand you, right?" Weiss asked her. The horse looked straight at Weiss and huffed out hair blowing her bangs back.

"Chestnut is very temperamental, so I don't think it's a good idea to be angering her," Ruby said then pet the other side of the horse's face while she rubbed her cheek against the horse's face. "Instead you should only show her love and affection."

"Ok then," Weiss said backing up slightly. "And where is a horse I can borrow."

"Uhh… I really don't know," Ruby said then walked into the stall with Chestnut. "It's probably best if you have the horse decide whether or not it likes you. You don't want a horse that will buck you off the minute you get on it. So, walk down the stalls and see which one likes you. I'm going to saddle up Chestnut."

"Alright, fine," Weiss said walking down the line of horse stalls.

The first horse was a black stallion that, as soon as Weiss tried to pet it, tried to bite her. After removing her hand quickly, she continued down the line. The second horse was a brown one similar to Chestnut, so Weiss approached it calmly. The second horse then threw its head up hitting Weiss in the chin.

Ruby snickered from the back stall. "His name is Buck. I think you can figure out why," she said placing the the saddle on Chestnut's back.

"Stupid, violent horses," Weiss said rubbing the bottom of her chin. She then walked further down the line till something caught her eye.

Approaching the stall she came up to the sight of a pure white horse with blue eyes. It then approached Weiss looking at her curiously. Weiss then stuck out her hand and approached the horse cautiously not wanting to be bit. The horse suddenly moved its head forward placing its nose under her hand having Weiss pet her.

"Snowflake?" Ruby asked approaching the two with Chestnut fully saddled up. "Really? For nearly two years you nipped at anyone who even tried to pet you, and then you pick a stranger." The horse neighed in response. "Well alright then. Weiss, saddle her up and then we can get going."

Weiss paled. "Saddle?"

"Wait, I thought you said you knew how to ride horseback?" Ruby asked her.

"Well, the horses were already saddled by the time we got there to practice," Weiss said blushing in embarrassment.

Ruby sighed. "Alright, I'll saddle up Snowflake for you, but I think that you should learn how to do this yourself," Ruby said walking to the back of the stable and started grabbing the equipment. "So, what part of Atlas do you come from?" she asked placing the horse skirt and rear housing on the horse's back.

"Why do you want to know?" Weiss asked then Chestnut nudged her back.

"Well, I did kind of save your life, bring you to safety to have your wounds cleaned, and am traveling with you while loaning you a horse," Ruby then grunted as she heaved the horse saddle onto snowflake's back.

"Fine," Weiss huffed in annoyance, "I came from Franwell… the town near the castle."

"Really?" Ruby asked, her eyes lighting up with curiosity. "What is the town like? Have you ever seen the royal family? What are they like?"

' _Ok, so I guess she can't recognize a Schnee when she sees one,'_ Weiss thought as Ruby started tightening the straps on the saddle. "Uhh, the town is pretty fun. Every year there is a large festival where the town and most of the surrounding towns come together and have a good time. The royal family even makes an appearance, but they only stay for the parade because of potential threats," Weiss answered then mumbled, " _I guess I never really went to the festival."_

"Wow, I've always wanted to go, but it's always in the spring when Uncle Qrow needs my help planting the fields," Ruby said then patted the saddle. "Here you go, properly saddled, and if we hurry, we can get to town before all the good stock is gone."

* * *

After they saddled up their horses, Ruby and Weiss rode to town. The ride was pretty quiet until Ruby spotted two beowolves ahead on the road.

"Ruby!" Weiss yelled to her over the sounds of the horses.

"Yeah, I see them. Hyah!" Ruby shouted having Chestnut speed up. "Weiss, hang back a bit."

"Alright," Weiss said pulling on the reins causing Snowflake to slow down a bit.

"Ok Chestnut, just like we practiced," Ruby said petting the horse's neck as she slowly stood up on the saddle. "Weiss, let go of the reins."

"What are you doing?!" Weiss shouted as she watched Ruby pull her scythe off her back then let go of the reins.

"Pest control," Ruby said then jumped to the right off the horse's back spinning her body. The scythe cut through the first beowolf, then she managed to spin again cleanly cutting through the other beowolf. After cutting through the second one, Ruby stopped spinning her body and immediately landed on the saddle of Snowflake pushing Weiss back slightly. "That was cool."

"What were you thinking?" Weiss shrieked at her as Ruby grabbed the reins having Snowflake speed up next to Chestnut.

"I just was trying to kill the grimm and make sure they didn't follow us into town," Ruby said then jumped onto Chestnut's back. She then pointed ahead. "Speaking of town."

Ahead on the road was a somewhat large village complete with taverns, shops, regular houses, and Fort Signal, the place where all the people of Patch go once they are twelve years old to learn to fight grimm well enough for survival. Riding into the town, Ruby and Weiss made their way to the town stables and tied up their horses. After leaving the town stables, they made their way into the market square.

"So, where is your father's blacksmith shop?" Weiss asked Ruby as she pulled out her coin purse and began shopping for groceries.

"It's pretty easy to find. You just need to look for the smoke," Ruby said putting several apples in a bag then paying the stall owner several copper pieces. "I can bring you there after I'm done shopping."

"I think it would be best to do this now," Weiss said as Ruby walked over to the butcher stand and began looking at the meat.

"Well, I'm a tad bit hungry, and after looking at this food, I could probably go for some food," Ruby said practically ignoring Weiss. "And I saw that you didn't anything this morning, so if you want, you can go to the local tavern and get lunch."

As soon as Weiss was about to retort, she suddenly felt her stomach slightly grumble. "Fine," she sighed.

"Great," Ruby said then handed Weiss ten silver coins, "Tell the owner to prepare Ruby's usual and Yang's because that's her favorite place to eat. Also, knowing her, she didn't bring any money to pay for anything."

"Aright," Weiss said taking the silver as Ruby paid for the meat she purchased then skipped into the market place. She then came to a sudden realization. "I don't know where the tavern is."

Weiss then started to wander around the area sticking close to the market. After wandering she began to hear music playing nearby. Taking her best guess, she walked toward it. Then she saw the sign outside the door with two tankards over a beowolf. Figuring it was the place Ruby was talking about, Weiss entered the building.

Weiss immediately saw that there was several wooden tables around the sides of the building surrounding a center fireplace. Then she looked up and saw that the tavern was about three stories tall having rooms on the third floor and more tables on the second. On the back wall there was a simple bar in front of several large barrels of mead. She also noticed that the bar was pretty full of people.

Weiss then decided that she was going to find Ruby's sister Yang. Going off of what she knew Ruby looked like, Weiss was searching for a woman with black hair with red tips and silver eyes. After scanning the tavern, she gave up and made her way to the bar and sat down on a stool next to a tall blonde woman with long hair. She was waiting for the barkeep to come over and take her order when the woman next to her started having a heated conversation with the man next to her.

"Hey come on, why are you going into an apprenticeship?" the man, clearly having had too many drinks, asked the blonde woman. "What you really should, hic, should do is find yourself a husband and raise some kids. I mean, you do have a very mother-like figure."

The blonde woman sighed in annoyance. "If this is how you try to woo a woman, it is no surprise that you're thirty and single," the blonde woman said causing Weiss to chuckle.

"I'm not trying to woo you, if I was," he said then gently placed a lock of her hair in his hand and ran his thumb over it, "I would compare your hair to the-"

"Don't touch my hair," the woman said clenching her fist. Then, without warning, she punched the man having him let go of her hair. Then she grabbed his hand and broke it before throwing him onto the bar before repeatedly punching him in the face. She continued to punch him until his face was swollen, some of his teeth broke off, and blood was coming out of his nose. "Just don't."

"Goddamn it Xiao Long!" the barkeep suddenly shouted at her causing the woman and Weiss to jump suddenly. "You can't just keep beating up people!"

"He was touching me," she defended herself as the barkeep leaned in and glared at her.

"That doesn't change the fact you beat his face in."

"I didn't break any of your furniture. So I don't really understand why you're getting mad. Just throw him out back like you do with the other drunks," she said then smirked. "You owe me."

He paused for a few seconds before growling in frustration. "Fine, but this time we're even."

"Not even close. By my count I still have thirty more favors left," she said as the barkeep picked up the unconscious drunk and began carrying him out the back door.

"Wait… Xiao Long," Weiss said out loud catching the woman's attention causing her to look over at Weiss locking her lilac eyes with Weiss's blue. "Are you Yang Xiao Long."

"The one and only," Yang said giving Weiss a thumbs up. "I'm sorry, but I don't do autographs."

"Why would I want an autograph?" Weiss asked her causing the blonde's smile to drop.

"Right, right, first rule of fight club," Yang mumbled before she looked back up at Weiss. "So, were you looking for me?"

"Uhh, yeah, Ruby sent me here to buy you and her lunch-"

"Wait!" Yang shouted suddenly darting her hand to her waist, then to her different pockets and suddenly paled. "I forgot my money. Ruby really is the best sister ever!" Yang exclaimed as the barkeep walked back up to the bar. "Carl! Get me the usual, and Ruby's too!"

"Alright fine, and do you want anything, miss?" he asked looking over to Weiss who was mentally counting the money she had left in her purse after the trip from Atlas to Vale, to Patch.

"Uhh, I'll have the same as Ruby's special," she said guessing that it wouldn't be that bad if Ruby ate it.

"Coming right up," the barkeep said then walked to the kitchens.

"So," Yang said turning to Weiss, "How do you know my little sister?"

"Well," Weiss chuckled, "it's a funny story actually."

* * *

 **And that was the day Weiss met the woman who will give her so many headaches.**

 **I did write this up earlier than I would normally do it because, jeez, I did not expect the RWBY White Rose group to act that fast.**

 **So, I've decided to add horses into this story because, they are going to need them in the future. So I tried to think of the best horses for Ruby and Weiss. Ruby gets the sweet horse that she's known for years, and Weiss gets the horse that was completely stubborn until it met the right match.**

 **I did forget to mention this in the previous chapter, so let me talk for a bit. With this story being about the medieval age, I will include a lot of bits of the feudal system, and that included serfs. Serfs are workers who are bound to the land to work, which in this story are basically faunus. I may have the faunus be similar to serfs, but not exactly. The White Fang obviously doesn't like that the faunus are being treated a lot like slaves, but not really since they have a lot of freedoms.**

 **Anyway, tell me what you thought in the reviews (because two chapters might give you a better opinion on the story)**

 **Till the next chapter,**

 **-J. Van A**


	3. Hey look, a distraction

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose.**

 **You know, it's surprising I can come out with these chapters as fast as I am. Well, I have a lot of free time on my hands because I don't have homework. It kind of seems like I'm complaining about not having anything to do, which is basically what I'm doing.**

 **Well, anyway, we've got some interaction with Yang in this chapter, then a big fight, and not with another drunk.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

After Ruby had left Weiss to go to the market place, she started walking to the various stands. She picked up some vegetables fruits and vegetables, then she bought a bottle of milk to replace the once she dropped the other day.

She then was walking to the tavern until something caught her eye. Walking over to the stand she saw the various clothing pieces and jewelry. She browsed over the fancy dresses until she saw a black dress with a red and black skirt next to a black corset. She looked at the price on the dress and immediately dismissed the thought of buying it.

As she came close to the tavern a group of three children rounded the corner and nearly crashed into Ruby, except that she slid over to the side of the street. Then as she approached the tavern passing some drunk guy with a bloody face that seemed to be the result of a bar fight.

After entering the tavern, Ruby immediately saw Yang downing a tankard of ale as Weiss was telling her a story. Ruby then walked over and sat down next to her sister then set her bag of groceries down next to her stool.

"Ruby!" Yang exclaimed suddenly hugging her sister. "Dad was worried when you didn't come home until Uncle Qrow came by and told us you were staying the night there."

"Alright," Ruby said patting Yang's shoulder. "Yang, we talked about this. I need to breathe." She started to struggle in her sister's arms. "Yang, seriously. Are you drunk right now?"

"No, no I'm not," Yang replied.

"She had six tankards," Weiss said as the barkeep collected Yang's empty tankards.

"Ok, so she's not drunk," Ruby said then struggled a bit sliding down in Yang's arms. Then she quickly jumped up hitting Yang's chin with the top of her head causing Yang to let go of her. "And that takes care of that."

"Why would you just headbutt your sister?" Weiss asked Ruby as both the sisters started to laugh.

"It's fine," Yang said rubbing her chin. "I'm teaching her self defense so she doesn't get hurt. Nice move by the way."

The barkeep showed up carrying three plates. On the first plate was a couple of steamed carrots, a baked potato, and a large chunk of mutton. Then on two different plates were small carrots, a few small baked potatoes, and a somewhat large turkey leg. Placing the mutton plate in front of Yang, the barkeep looked in disappointment as the tankard next to her was already empty. Then he placed the turkey leg plates in front of the two other girls and left.

"So, this is… interesting," Weiss said poking her fork at the food. The meal from the night previous hadn't been that terrible. She had normally been used to extravagant foods at the palace, but in the past month she was somewhat familiar with commonfolk food.

"This is the best place to get a meal in town," Yang said taking a bite from her mutton. "The only other person who can cook better is Ruby."

"Come one Yang, that's not true," Ruby said getting embarrassed by her sister's praise as she took a carrot and ate it.

"Actually, the meal you made the other night was quite enjoyable, compared to other ones I've had in the past month," Weiss said causing Ruby to get even more embarrassed.

Suddenly from outside there was the sounds of shouting and suddenly a large group of people ran past the door.

"Grimm!" many people from the group shouted as they were running past.

"Hey look, anything else," Ruby said picking up her turkey leg and dropping a small amount of silver to pay for Yang's drinks. She then picked up her bag of groceries and rushed to the door followed by Yang, but not after she grabbed her mutton leg and bag.

"Didn't you say that people from Patch typically are trained to fight grimm?" Weiss asked Ruby as they made their way onto the street.

"I did, but people typically don't bring weapons to the marketplace unless they travel a certain distance like we did," Ruby said pulling her scythe off of her back. "People also don't like throwing themselves into dangerous situations."

"And you do?" Weiss asked as Ruby walked over to her and handed her the bag of groceries. Then she reached down to her boot and pulled out the knife and handed it to Weiss. "What am I supposed to do with these?"

"Take these things and go. Yang and I will find you in a while," Ruby told her.

"Hey, I'm not jus-"

"Weiss, please," Ruby said holding Weiss's arm.

"Fine," Weiss said as Ruby let go of her arm. She then slung the bag over her shoulder and ran in the direction the large crowd had gone.

"So Ruby, should we make a little contest of this?" Yang asked opening her bag and pulling out a pair of yellow gauntlets with spikes on the knuckles. She then pulled them on and cracked her knuckles.

"Yang, no. You're the only of us who actively fights," Ruby said causing Yang to scoff.

"Excuse me, Ms. Saved-the-girl-from-grimm," Yang said cocking back her fist as the group of ten beowolves started running down the street toward them. "I thought you easily killed three of these with your gardening tool."

"It's a _farming_ tool," Ruby said then ran up to the first grimm. She then stabbed the first grimm in the lower abdomen. With one swift movement the blade cut through the grimm.

"Oh silly me," Yang said punching the beowolf in the face breaking through the grimm armor. She then punched with her other fist directly in the top of the head killing it. "I thought you did some harcore gardening with that thing."

"That would be called farming," Ruby said spinning around with her scythe decapitating the next grimm. Then she attempted to go for an upward strike stabbing the next beowolf in the chest, but before she could follow through the scythe got stuck in the grimm's chest armor. "That's not supposed to happen," Ruby said tugging on the scythe not having it be able to pull out.

The grimm slowly turned its head to look at Ruby for a second. Then it swung its large claw throwing her to the side of the street.

"Ruby!" Yang shouted punching in her closest grimm's head killing it. She then lunged at the group of grimm running toward her sister jumping on one's back. Then she gripped its head twisting it breaking the grimm's neck.

She jumped off its back punching the next grimm's neck ripping its throat open. After ducking under the torn necked grimm to avoid it falling over, she rolled over its back just in time to uppercut another grimm tearing through its windpipe.

She approached the fourth grimm what had Ruby's scythe stuck in its chest, and grabbed the shaft of the scythe. With one strong pull, the blade cut through the whole grimm, and with the arc of the pull, the blade of the scythe passed through the air imbedding into the ground.

Yang then spun around all out punching the next grimm in the head breaking through the creature's facial plate forcing her fist part way into its head. With a little strength she pulled her fist out of the grimm's head.

"Ruby, are you ok?" Yang asked her sister as she helped her up.

"I'll be fine," Ruby said pressing her hand on her chest then removed it to see a little blood on it. "Well, I'm not perfect. Did we get them all?"

"I don't see any more around," Yang said looking around the streets as she pulled Ruby's arm over her shoulders.

* * *

After she left the marketplace, Weiss made her way to where some people were gathered. As she entered the group, Weiss saw three children with some cuts that were bleeding pretty bad, but the adults were bandaging the wounds.

"This is terrible," one of the people said looking at the children. "These grimm attacks have been getting worse over the past month."

"I really think it's because people are scared about the White Fang," another person said. "The negative emotions are drawing the grimm to our town."

"I still can't believe that the White Fang killed the queen of Atlas and one of the princesses," another person said catching Weiss's attention.

"They only found the queen's body. The daughter might still be alive," the second person said causing Weiss to walk away from the group of people a little. She quickly pulled up her hood to avoid being recognized.

"Do you think Taiyang's girls took care of the grimm?" a new person asked.

"I don't think so, look!" someone shouted pointing down the street.

Weiss looked and saw in the middle of the street a lone beowolf. She could see it staring at her with its glowing red eyes. Weiss's shoulder suddenly started to hurt remembering her previous encounter with beowolves. Weiss put down the bag in her hand on the ground. She then put Ruby's knife in her left hand and started to focus.

Back in Atlas, her father made her take fencing classes in order to protect herself. She had excelled in the class after several sessions and was proficient in fencing. Ruby's knife was no rapier being a thick blade roughly five inches in length. It would force her to be in close quarters combat, which she was never really good in.

The beowolf roared then ran at Weiss. She prepared herself and ran at it. At the last second she ducked under the grimm's claw and stabbed it once below the ribs. Then the beowolf turned around and swiped with its claw giving Weiss barely enough time to lean backwards to dodge. She then regained her footing and went for five quick strikes at the grimm's chest barely causing it to bleed slightly.

It then swiped at Weiss, but before it could hit her, she raised Ruby's knife to block the claw stabbing it in the hand. She pulled the blade out and with the force of the pull she drew the knife across the grimm's neck.

"That was… that was… interesting," Weiss huffed as the grimm fell to the ground and she cleaned the blood off of Ruby's knife with her cloak.

* * *

 **I am pretty tired, but when I start writing I have to finish the thought before I finish for the day. This story also is helping with my writer's block for A BLZEing Remnant, which is progressing steadily.**

 **I also forgot my glasses, which doesn't affect me that much because they're reading glasses. I do kind of have to read to write, so I guess that kind of goes together.**

 **I did feel like debuting Yang's gauntlets, which are normal gauntlets with spikes on the knuckles because there are no guns in this time period. there were cannons though, so I may use those later in the story.**

 **We also got to see Weiss fight grimm, without getting severely injured again, and we also got some insight into Weiss's character.**

 **Till next time. Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	4. The Princess meets the Blacksmith

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A, and here's the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. I'm actually updating this story at a reasonable time instead of at one in the morning when I am unable to form a complete thought except for, 'I'm very tired' and 'I forgot my glasses' which to be fair I only need for half my vision. My right eye is perfectly fine, but my left is messed up. So I don't need my glasses for everything.**

 **So yeah, glasses aside, I decided that we should progress the plot and have Weiss meet Taiyang. So yeah, this chapter and the next few ones may be a bit dull for a bit unless I decide to skip over the time progression.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Weiss!" Ruby exclaimed as Yang and her walked over to the secret princess. "I'm sorry we didn't get all the grimm."

"Well, I'm pretty sure you have an excuse," Weiss said gesturing to the open cut on Ruby's chest.

"Come on, Ruby. Let's go to dad's workshop. I can patch you up there," Yang said adjusting Ruby's arm on her shoulders and began walking down the street.

"Right, Weiss," Ruby said looking over to her as she followed the sisters, "When we get there you can ask dad about making a weapon."

"Why does she want dad to make a weapon?" Yang asked. "I heard that Atlas has pretty good blacksmiths."

"Apparently, dad is considered a legendary blacksmith," Ruby said causing Yang to immediately burst into laughter nearly dropping her sister. "Yeah, I had the same reaction."

"He is considered a master blacksmith back in Atlas," Weiss tried to defend herself. "He even made the royal family their weapons several years ago." She may have been too young at the time to have a weapon made for her, but she did remember when Taiyang presented her father and Winter their weapons. Her father had even offered to make Taiyang his own personal blacksmith, but Taiyang refused. Weiss always wondered why he refused her father's offer, but she understood now that he wanted to raise his kids on the peaceful island Patch.

"Weiss, are you going to keep spacing out?" Yang asked snapping Weiss out of her thoughts. She then pointed to a somewhat large house with a forge and workbench outside under a large wooden canopy. "We're here. Can you open up the door?"

"Right," Weiss said running up ahead to open the large wooden door.

Yang then entered the house and took the bag of groceries from Weiss. "Dad, we're here," Yang said into the house. "Ruby got a bit hurt in a fight with grimm, so I'm going to patch her up. You also have a customer."

"Didn't I tell you girls to be careful?" a tall blonde man wearing a thick leather apron asked entering the room.

"We were," Yang said placing the bag of groceries on the table then Ruby on the chair next to it. "Ruby just was caught off guard."

"I'm here you know," Ruby said then winced in pain. "That grimm wasn't normal. I think those ones were called alphas."

"It's fine Ruby," Taiyang said resting on the doorframe. "All that matters is that you're fine."

"Something is going on out there, dad," Ruby told him as Yang walked out of the kitchen to get the medical supplies. "This is the second grimm attack in two days, we normally have to deal with one a week. Also the grimm packs are moving closer to town. Uncle Qrow even said that the older grimm are too smart to move closer to humans."

"And your uncle isn't right about everything. I mean, he firmly believes that the princess of Atlas surviv-" Taiyang said catching a glance of Weiss stopping him mid-sentence. He stood there for a second processing what he was looking at. Suddenly, he snapped to attention and approached Weiss. "I'm sorry, you came here for blacksmithing." Weiss nodded. He gestured for her to follow him. "Come with me."

He lead her outside to the forge, outside the earshot of the sisters. Then he walked over to the table pulling a large chair out and sat down. He then gestured to the chair on the other side of the table and Weiss sat down.

"So, princess, why are you here?" Taiyang asked surprising Weiss.

"How did you know who I am?" Weiss asked him causing the man to roll his eyes.

"Oh come on," Taiyang groaned. "You're not exactly hiding it. I'm sorry but a simple black hood doesn't cover up the Schnee features. White hair and blue eyes, not exactly the most normal trait among commonfolk. So, why are you here?"

"I came to have you make me a sword," Weiss said fumbling for her purse. She then opened the pouch and dumped the contents out onto the table. "I need the best sword you can possibly make."

"Does this happen to relate to the fate of your mot-"

"I _need_ the best sword you can possibly make. I can't tell you why," Weiss said glaring at the man.

"Alright," Taiyang said then quickly counted the money in front of him. He then stood up and walked over to the barrel next to the forge. He reached into the barrel and pulled out an iron longsword. Then he walked over and placed the sword on the table. "With the money you have on the table, this is probably the best thing you can buy. 20 gold doesn't really pay for the best weaponry."

"What? Wait, I thought-"

"You haven't really paid for anything before," Taiyang said causing Weiss to blush for a second. "Well, I can't blame you. Your sister did ask me a question when I was making her father and her's weapons. If I remember, she asked me if making both had cost 100 gold."

"How much did it cost?" Weiss asked him.

"Waaaay too much," Taiyang said chuckling. "This shop and my house are both somewhat new. I also was able to loan Qrow a lot of money when he settled down and began farming."

"So how much would your best weapon cost?"

"Well," he said then thought for a few moments. He then counted using his fingers for a second. "For the best weapon I could make, the resources alone would cost most of your father's fortune, but that weapon would probably be a bit bulky for you. I could make you a sword that wouldn't cost as much as your father's weapon. Though the problem is your lack of funds."

"I _need_ you to make me a sword. Is there any way I can pay you?" Weiss asked him. At that moment sunlight glittered off of her necklace catching Taiyang's eye.

"Well, I'm a rational businessman, but you wouldn't have to pay me in money. A trade would suffice," he said leaning in causing Weiss to raise an eyebrow. "That necklace, I can easily tell from here, is worth a small fortune on its own. Let me guess, made by the best jewelry maker in all of Atlas."

"Yes, but," Weiss said reaching up holding her necklace in her hand. The necklace had been a gift from her mother for her fifteenth birthday. She couldn't get rid of it. "It's not for sale. It's… important to me."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Taiyang said leaning back in chair. "I understand not wanting to get rid of things given to you." He rested his hand on the table and pulled two rings off of his finger. "These were my wedding rings. After… well, I don't want to bore you with a long story." He put the rings back on his finger and looked up at Weiss. Then he noticed something else. "That bracelet. It seems to be a pretty expensive trinket."

"This?" Weiss asked looking at the jeweled bracelet on her wrist. "It was something my father gave me before he left to Fort Mantle with Winter."

"Is it something you'd be willing to part with?" Taiyang asked her causing the princess to think. "How about I offer you a deal?"

"What kind of deal?"

"Well, it's obvious you're going on a mission of revenge. So you're obviously going to need more than just a sword," Taiyang began. "I am willing to make you a custom sword. I can also make you lightweight armor because you're probably going to need it. I own a decent portion of Qrow's farm, so I can sell you one of his horses. And with the money left over, you can purchase supplies you can possibly need for your journey. That is the best deal I can offer you."

Weiss pondered for a moment, then she slid the bracelet off her wrist and placed it on the table. "It's a deal."

"Great," Taiyang said picking up the bracelet and inspected it. "So, I have the materials needed in storage, and I can get to work as soon as we're done here. What kind of sword do you want? Longsword? Shortsword? Cutlass? Kriegsmesser?" He chuckled to himself for a second. "Zweihander?"

"A rapier, please," Weiss said shaking off the visual of her fumbling with a zweihander. "It's probably the only weapon I can be good at."

"Now, a good sword can easily take a month to forge," Taiyang explained causing Weiss to start to lose hope, "but luckily for you, I am the best blacksmith in Remnant."

"I never saw what Summer saw in that ego," Yang said peeking her head out from a nearby window as she just passed the forge hearing the last bit. Taiyang's head drooped down as Yang walked away from the window.

"Anyway, I'll get right to work," he said in a defeated tone. He then left the chair and opened the cellar door and walked in.

* * *

 **So yeah, Taiyang knows who Weiss is, and apparently Ruby and Yang constantly give him crap. I was going to give him a bit of backstory with the rings, but I'm pretty sure we all know the story by now. And if not, have you watched volume 2? Yang basically explains the whole thing with Raven and Summer. I still have my suspicions that Qrow is... nevermind. I'm getting off topic.**

 **Who wants to know what Qrow's errand was? Good, because I'm going to explain that over the next few chapters before Weiss leaves Patch.**

 **Anyway, have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	5. A Father and Daughter Talk

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the latest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. This took a bit longer to post due to my week being a bit busy with school. So I thought to progress the plot and set up a few chapters in the future.**

 **I've also introduced magic a little bit in the chapter. (I'll explain a bit more in the second A/N)**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

After the encounter with Taiyang, Weiss went back into the shop to see Yang still patching up Ruby. Currently Yang was threading a needle across the two sides of the final wound stitching it. Then she tied the end and cut off the excess string.

"Alright, I think it should be fine," Yang said somewhat proud of her handiwork as Ruby pulled her new shirt back covering the cuts on her chest. "I cleaned it, so you shouldn't get infected, and with your crazy healing, you should be back to normal by the time of the harvest festival."

"Thanks, Yang, you're the best," Ruby said getting a goofy smile from her sister. Then Ruby caught sight of Weiss. "Hey, how'd it go?"

"Oh," Weiss said walking into the room, "I commissioned your father to make me a good sword, and he is also making me a set of armor along with selling me a horse."

"But he doesn't have any… oh," Yang said remembering the favors Qrow owes him.

"So yeah, I think for the next week I'm just going to stay at the inn or a tavern," Weiss said pulling her hood over her head then started walking toward the door. "Thank you, both of you, but I think this may be the last time we see each other." Just before she left the building Ruby stumbled out of her chair nearly falling over.

"Wait," Ruby said causing Weiss to stop. "If you want to, you could stay at Uncle Qrow's farm with me. I-I mean," she sputtered causing her face to turn a slight shade of red, "Staying at a place in town for a long period of time would be costly, and you probably spent most of your money on a sword and armor. So, since I have to watch the farm while Qrow's gone, you could stay there for free if you help out a bit so we can finish harvesting crops before the festival."

"That wouldn't be too hard," Weiss pondered, "and it would be free." Even though she didn't technically spend any of her remaining gold, her funds were still limited. She would have to be stringent with her spending. She wouldn't need to purchase supplies for the trip, as per her agreement with Taiyang, so that much of her spending had been taken care of. If she went to the farm, then she could save her gold for the future when her supplies run out. "Fine, I will stay with you for the next week," she said causing Ruby smile brightly. "When your father finishes my equipment, I'm leaving for Vale, then I'm going across Remnant." Yang immediately looked over to her and started thinking.

"Well then," Ruby said standing up ignoring the pain in her chest, "let's get going. There's still a lot to get done before the festival next week." She then walked over to Weiss and grabbed the groceries and Crescent Rose. Taking the princess by the arm, Ruby then lead her out of the shop towards the stables.

"So, she's going to be traveling," Yang sighed closing the box on medical supplies. "I wonder."

Leaving the box on the table, Yang made her way outside to the forge. Out there, she saw her dad starting to hammer away at the strange ingot on the anvil. Then she pumped the bellows a few times heating up the furnace just in time for Taiyang to put the ingot in there to heat up.

"So," he said starting the conversation, "something's up." He then pulled the ingot out of the forge and started hammering it again. "What's on your mind?"

"That girl. What's her deal?" Yang asked sitting down on a nearby stool.

"That's something she can tell, not me," Taiyang said flipping the ingot over to hammer the other side. "I can tell that's not what's bothering you."

"She said she's going to be travelling across Remnant," Yang said causing Taiyang to stop hammering knowing where this was headed. "Maybe she'll run into Raven."

"Yang, I know what you're going to-"

"Can I please go along with her?" Yang asked interrupting him.

"Sweetheart, we've been over this before. You're needed here. You're part-way through your apprenticeship, and you know winter is when the Baron has us make and repair Fort Signal's weapons," Taiyang tried to reason only causing Yang to huff in response. "Ruby needs you." He hated playing that card, but it always tipped the scales in his favor. "She may not show it, but she relies on you a lot. If you were gone, Ruby might not be here today. The world outside of Patch is dangerous, so I don't want to think you may not return."

"But-"

"Raven left, Yang. She left you here. She left me," Taiyang said sitting across from his daughter. "For the longest time I felt I had nothing left, except for you. You were too young at the time to remember, but I do. We were really lucky when Qrow took us in before he started that farm."

"Dad, I need to know why she left."

"She left because she was scared," he said looking at her trying to lock eye contact, but she was avoiding looking at him. "Your mother was always a free spirit, so the thought of settling down terrified her."

"I need to hear her say it," Yang said suddenly standing up glaring at him, her eyes glowing red. "I _hate_ her, but as long as I don't know for sure why she left, it will haunt me."

"Yang," he said standing up then pulling Yang into a hug. "Look, I'll give you the week to think about it, and I want you to think about it hard. By the end of the festival, if you still want to go, I'll let you leave with that girl. But if you go with her, your first duty is to protect her. She is an important person to a man I knew, so I'm sure he would want Weiss to stay alive."

"Thanks dad," she said hugging him back, her eyes turning back to normal as she buried her face into his shoulder. "By the way, aren't you supposed to be making a sword right now?"

* * *

A black haired man walked up over the moat to Fort Beacon, Vale's strongest fort and last resort in case of an attack. Even though it was common for travellers to wear cloaks, he didn't. He wore a simple red cape on his back that was tattered at the end which was perfect for covering his weapon. Other than the cape, he wore a simple gray shirt along with a necklace and a couple of rings.

Vale, unlike other kingdoms, didn't have a king. It had a council that made decisions. While the council was pretty useful, in severe cases, the head of Fort Beacon could assume all power until the danger passes. That man is Ozpin. Along with his mage assistant, he silently resides in Fort Beacon watching the kingdom making sure no threats come to pass.

"So, you called me here," Qrow said entering the room where the silver haired man was sitting at a desk. "I take it this is something important otherwise you wouldn't have called me close to harvest time."

"Always to the point," Ozpin replied. "I never did understand why you went into farming. It doesn't seem to fit your… skill set."

"I prefer not killing when I can," Qrow told him. "Farming is actually quite relaxing, and I don't have to kill people. I even get to visit my nieces whenever I want."

"Well then, you may not like this then," Ozpin said causing Qrow to sigh in annoyance. "I assume you've heard the news about the Queen."

"The Queen of Atlas? I doubt there is anyone who hasn't heard about her death," Qrow said leaning against the wall. "I also heard that her daughter died too."

"You and I both know that is false," Ozpin smirked. "Magic is really useful."

"And wasted on you. Seriously, why does Glynda even tolerate you? I swear, is she crazy?" In a nearby tower a blonde woman sneezed while reading a book. "Leave it to you to manipulate one of the kingdom's best mages into being your ally."

"For the record, I never manipulated her."

"So, why exactly did you call me here? I'm guessing the King of Atlas requested your services in returning his daughter."

"Actually, no. Mr. Schnee firmly believes his daughter is dead. He has moved his family across Remnant and holed himself and his other daughter, Winter, in Fort Mantle and prepared it to fight off any attackers," Ozpin explained. "I do have a request for you though. We need to investigate the murder of the queen. It is clear that the White Fang has claimed the attack, but there are still some gaps in the information. The White Fang had outside help before attacking the castle, and that is what I need you to investigate."

"No," Qrow said turning around to walk toward the door. "I'm busy with the harvest. Also, I quit all this."

"Are you forgetting the oath you took?" Ozpin asked him causing Qrow to stop in his tracks. "No matter how much you deny it, you're one of the elite knights of Vale. To refuse an order from me is an act of treason and is punishable by beheading. Isn't that right, Scarecrow, the Grimm Reaper?"

The caped man sighed as he reached to his belt. Then with one quick movement of his hand, a large object was pulled from his belt before unfolding and locking in place turning the collapsed weapon into a large tall scythe. "Just give me one week," Qrow said not even looking at Ozpin. "One week to prepare, return home, finish harvesting my crops, and say goodbye to my nieces. After that I'll go where you need me to. Just one week."

"Fine, just remember that time is of the essence here," Ozpin said as Qrow left the room.

* * *

"Ruby, can I ask you a question?" Weiss asked as the two of them approached Qrow's farm on horseback.

"Go right ahead," Ruby replied as they both entered the gate and began trotting toward the stables.

"Why are you being this nice and helping me?"

Ruby thought about this for a moment as Chestnut slowed down to match Snowflake. "It just seemed like the right thing to do," Ruby said smiling at Weiss. "Come on, if you're leaving in a week, you might need to know how to saddle up a horse."

* * *

 **I was going to end this chapter with Qrow leaving Beacon, but I felt like putting in that last bit. So, I may have made Ozpin a bit more manipulative than he normally is, but he did need Qrow to go on that mission.**

 **Anyway, magic. Magic does exist in Remnant and functions similar to aura and semblances, but it isn't as common as aura in the show. If someone gets cut, they bleed, meaning no aura protection. Semblances are considered magic and people who can use them are considered mages. For mages, there are different classes like: court mage, archmage, necromancer, pyromancer, summoner, battlemage, arcane warrior, and healer.**

 **Some people from the show would logically fall into classes. For example, Glynda is an court mage who primarily focuses on telekinesis, whereas Cinder falls (unintentional pun) into the pyromancer class. Battlemages are different from arcane warriors due to them focusing on non-magical weapons, whereas arcane warriors use magic to fight. The rest of the classes are self explanatory.**

 **Before you guys think that I'm going to make all of RWBY mages, stop in your tracks. I'm making this world a lot like Skyrim and Dragon Age, so magic isn't everywhere. For example, Ruby doesn't have magic that makes her run faster, she's just naturally fast and has a high metabolism (also means she heals fast).**

 **Also, in case I didn't clarify it enough. The harvest festival will be a somewhat big plot point. I did even set up Yang going with Weiss for her own reasons.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	6. A day on the farm

**Hello everyone, this is the sleep deprived J. Van A you all know and love with the newest chapter of The Princess and The Rose.**

 **Today, we get to learn stuff. I mean, not really history stuff. I would love to get into a lecture on how the medieval ages actually ran and what people actually experienced. I mean, if I were to be fairly accurate, then most of these characters would be infected with the plague or Weiss would already be married off to a royal in a faraway land to secure an alliance. Cannons actually existed back in those times, but they weren't as effective as they were in the renaissance.**

 **Anyway, we get some insight into certain character's backstories.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"And I think you've got it," Ruby told Weiss after she had finished securing the saddle on Snowflake. Weiss then stood up and looked at her handiwork for a second before resting her hand on the horse. As soon as a little pressure was applied to the saddle it immediately fell off the horse into the ground. "Ok, well you mostly got it."

"Maybe if I try agai-" Weiss said before Ruby interrupted.

"Actually, we kind of need to get to work on the farm," she said picking up the saddle and setting it on a nearby table. "I told Uncle Qrow that I would help harvest the wheat until he came back. So I kind of need to actually get working on that."

"And what should I do?" Weiss asked her.

Ruby then walked over to the table and pulled a regular looking scythe from it and handed it to Weiss. "You're helping. Farm work isn't that hard you just have to put a little muscle in it. I may not look it, but I can cut a fully grown tree in half with Crescent Rose," she said then flexed her arm showing off a little bit. "That scythe right there is a regular harvesting scythe, so cutting through grain is easy for it. Crescent Rose was made using better materials and it is naturally larger so it can easily fight grimm."

"If you wanted to make a weapon to kill grimm, then why a scythe?" Weiss asked as they both walked out of the stables. "You could easily make a sword or battleaxe."

"I told you before, I didn't want my weapons to kill," Ruby said standing next to the field of wheat. Then, with one powerful swing of her scythe, Ruby cut a large arc of wheat down even extending further from the scythe's normal blade length just from the force of the swing. "I'm just a farm hand, and frankly I don't like killing. I made Crescent Rose this way because despite my belief on killing, I know the grimm don't share it. Uncle Qrow even showed my how to fight with a scythe because of that." She swiped at the wheat field again cutting another portion. "Now then, do I need to show you how to swing that thing?"

"Of course I know how," Weiss said sticking her nose up in the air as she gripped both side handles on the shaft.

* * *

About an hour into harvesting the wheat, Weiss regretted not having Ruby show her the proper way to swing the scythe. Ruby eventually ran off another nearby field to help the other workers collect the grain. Weiss's first few swings she was somewhat accurate, but since her form was wrong the scythe eventually started tiring her arms making her slashes more inaccurate cutting the wheat unevenly. Eventually she was cutting each portion at obscure angles all while heavily breathing.

After she ran out of breath, Weiss fell over backwards dropping the scythe as she tried to catch her breath. A few minutes later a worker who was collecting the cut wheat made his way over to Weiss standing to her side only giving her a view of his boots.

"Are you ok miss?" he asked extending a hand to her. She looked at it for a second before reaching up and grabbing his hand. The man then helped her up. "I thought you might've hurt yourself." She then saw that he had short red hair with two fox ears on the top of his head causing her to freeze up. "Hey are you alright?" he asked her.

"Don't you _dare_ touch me!" Weiss snapped at him falling backwards in a failed attempt to run away.

"Hey, are you ok?" he asked then took a step forward stretching out a hand to help her back up.

Weiss started to panic. Feeling the ground around herself, she immediately felt the shaft of the scythe on the ground. "Get back!" she yelled at him picking up the weapon and swung the blade directly at him. Before the blade of the scythe could come in contact with him, it was stopped. Looking at the blade, Weiss could see a hand grasping the dull side, and looking to the owner she could see a familiar blonde.

"Mind if I _cut_ in?" Yang asked with a giant smile on her face chuckling for a second. Then she turned to the faunus. "Hey Chuck. Don't mind her, she's just a bit jumpy."

"Crazy is more like it," Chuck said walking away from the two.

"So, you do know the difference between a person and a bunch of wheat is, right?" Yang asked taking the scythe from Weiss. Then she snapped her fingers and pointed towards Weiss. "Right, I need you for a few minutes. Apparently dad forget to ask you for your measurements."

"Why would he need my measurements?" Weiss asked her raising an eyebrow.

"Well, if you want a set of armor that will fit properly, then he'll need your measurements," Yang said gesturing for her to follow her to Qrow's house.

* * *

"Do you really need to take this many?" Weiss asked as Yang took her fifth measurement on her left leg. "I've met several blacksmiths who could just look at a person and make them a good set of armor."

"Yes, there are some like that, but those kinds of armor have more weak points and typically are loose on some areas," Yang said taking the string she was using to measure and moved over to Weiss's right leg. "Your armor is set to be a custom made set with the highest grade material my dad owns. He wants to make it so that it fits you perfectly, and partially because he doesn't want to waste resources. He's kind of cheap like that," Yang mumbling the last bit. "Anyway, from what I believe he's planning is to make you a set of greaves, a chestplate, some bracers, and a battle skirt."

"Battle skirt?"

"Yeah, essentially it is an extension of the chest chainmail that goes down your thighs, but it looks a lot better," Yang said wrapping the measuring string around Weiss's waist. "So, you said before that you're going to be travelling."

"Yeah, what about it?" Weiss asked her as she felt Yang move the string up to her midsection.

"Well, where do you think you might be travelling?" Yang asked her then moved the string up to her chest. "Just curious. I've never gone further from the city of Vale."

"I'm going to travel where I need to go," Weiss answered somewhat dodging the question. "I've traveled from Atlas to here, and I'm not stopping anytime soon."

"And will you be travelling alone?" Yang asked not looking at the princess's confusion as she moved her string over to measure Weiss's arm. "Just curious."

"I… suppose I will be travelling alone," Weiss said and watched as Yang finished the measurements. She then moved over to the table and wrote down a series of numbers down on a sheet of paper. "Did you just remember all those numbers?"

"Yeah," Yang answered writing different symbols down next to the numbers, "You need to be able to remember a lot of things when you're a blacksmith. Where the hammers are, where the anvil's located, at which moment to pump the bellows, and where you set the calipers down. If you forget any one of these the material could end up not done properly."

"And those symbols?"

"Just something I put in there to help me remember the location of the measurement."

"Then why not just write down the location on the body. It wouldn't be that hard to write 'thigh.' Then even if you forgot a symbol, you could just read the word" Weiss said causing Yang to pause. Yang looked away from Weiss staring down at the sheet of paper in front of her making Weiss come to a realization. "You can't read, can you?"

"It's… it's not that I can't read," Yang said gripping on the pencil. "I've never really had a need to read, but I can read simple words like food and weapon names. I wanted to learn when I was younger. My mother was going to teach me, she used to be a school teacher here on Patch, but then…" Yang got quieter as she remembered the past till she just sat there looking at the table. "Anyway, I can read just as well as any blacksmith, but just don't expect me to read one of those tomes."

"Yang!" Ruby shouted bursting into the house in panic. "Have you seen Weiss? She disappeared in the field and it looks like a fight broke out from how badly the wheat was cut. We need to find her!"

Yang didn't say anything. She just simply pointed to the chair and started laughing as Ruby's face turned several different shades of red from embarrassment.

"Yang, stop," Ruby whined running over to her sister trying to get her to shut up.

"I can't- I can't-" Yang said trying to breathe. "How did you even know I was here?"

"Zwei found me," Ruby answered as Yang held Ruby's face and pushed her out of arm's reach. "I know he follows you around when you do errands for dad."

"Zwei?" Weiss asked the sisters only to get an answer by two barks at the door. Weiss looked over and saw a small Pembroke Welsh Corgi looking at her. From that glance Weiss had a strange feeling in the bottom of her stomach.

She really wanted to pet that dog.

* * *

 **Did I ever mention how tired I was. Man, I get enough sleep, but I just hit a wall, but I can't fall asleep. Ironically, that is when I am able to write the most. I also for some reason hurt my shoulder and it hurts when I move it, do I'm going to hopefully have it heal overnight like it typically does.**

 **So yeah, Yang is slightly illiterate. Back in those days, reading wasn't that common, and not really necessary to survive. Weiss has some slight (ha) issues with faunus (that will be a bit more important later, obviously).**

 **Daredevil season 2 is pretty good so far. Punisher is awesome and now I'm watching the Elektra episode.**

 **I'm going to bed.**

 **Have a good day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	7. The Cat and Battle Dog

**Hello everyone, I am the not-so-sleep-deprived J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and The Rose.**

 **We get a continuation of the last chapter, and we even get to see some more of the plot unfolding.**

 **I do have something else to say at the end of the chapter.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

While the sisters were messing around with each other, they didn't notice Weiss slip away from the table and head towards the door. Zwei looked at her and cocked his head opening his mouth letting his tongue hang out. Weiss cautiously approached the dog keeping her hand outstretched as she inched closer. Before she could touch its head, the dark let out a happy bark causing the princess to jump backwards in surprise landing on her behind with a thud catching the sisters' attention.

"What's wrong? Don't like dogs?" Yang asked pushing Ruby's face away from herself while avoiding the flailing arms.

"No, it's not that," Weiss said standing back up. She never really had any experiences with dogs, aside from the attack ones her father kept in case of intruders, but Weiss wasn't allowed to interact with them for obvious reasons. "I just… have never really been around dogs."

"Zwei, attack," Yang said shocking Weiss as the dog barked in confirmation.

The corgi simply bent forward a little before charging at the princess. Just before it collided with her, it jumped hitting Weiss in the chest throwing her to the ground. She nearly screamed before the attack came, but then she felt something wet touch her face. Opening her eyes she saw Zwei, happy as he could be, licking her face.

Weiss then heard a sound, and it took her a couple seconds before she realized it was her laughing. From behind her the sisters began laughing as they watched the spectacle of the white haired girl rolling around with the small dog as it licked her face.

"I think she's adjusting nicely," Yang said causing Ruby to nod in agreement.

"I still don't think that we should've used that command for playing with people," Ruby said scratching the side of her face.

"We have a better command for that anyways," Yang said standing up then she started heading to the door.. "Well, it's getting to be dusk, so I guess I'll be heading back home. Zwei, come."

The dog hopped off Weiss and let out a quick bark as it followed Yang out the door. Then a silent high pitched whine came from behind her, so Yang looked behind her and to the dog only to see him as confused as she was. They looked further back to see a defeated looking Weiss who was already tearing up while reaching for Zwei.

"Uhh, you know what. Ruby, it's going to be dark soon, so I think it would be best if Zwei wasn't around if grimm attack me on the road," Yang said patting the dog's head. "Zwei, stay." The dog let out a quick bark in confirmation. "See you soon, Ruby, Weiss."

"Bye," Ruby said as Yang left the building. She then stood up and started heading towards the door. "Now then, we still have some work to do."

"Oh… right," Weiss said stopping her approach towards the corgi.

"Well," Ruby said shrugging. "All that time in town, the shop, taking the trip back, and the harvesting, with the addition of you disappearing for nearly an hour with Yang, basically it is dusk. So since it is dangerous to be travelling at night, all the workers go home before dusk making us both the only people here, and the only chore is making sure the animals are in their proper pens. Come on, it's literally the easiest part of working here."

* * *

In the harbor town of Solaris, on the northern edge of Vale, a black cloaked figure slipped into the local tavern. It then walked to the back table surrounded by shadows sat down and opened a book. When the waitress came by, she took the figure's order then left.

"-now everyone, remember to look for any escaping faunus," one of the patrons said to the group of men gathered around their table. "Ever since the assassination of the queen and the princess, the king of Atlas has set a bounty on any White Fang members trying to leave Atlas."

"How much is the bounty?" the black figure asked catching everyone's attention.

"Who the hell are you?" the man asked looking at the figure.

"The bounty, how much?" the black figure repeated. "I'm a bit short on money. Maybe I'll do some bounty hunting."

"Five gold pieces a head," the man said then grabbed a large burlap sack. "I already have five here."

"Seems a bit low if you ask me," the figure said loudly closing their book. "The White Fang members are highly trained. Much to the point where farmers and fishermen would have a lot of trouble getting one, much less five."

"And what are you getting at?" the man angrily asked pointing at the figure.

"Well, there are a lot of faunus workers here owned by several rich fishing groups," the figure said reaching for something under their cloak. "I'm sure people may not notice one or two missing, or maybe five. Would you like to see how well trained _real_ White Fang members get?" the figure asked amber eyes glowing under the hood.

"Wait, what?" the man asked then the figure suddenly was right in front of him. The figure the drew their sword cutting straight through the man diagonally in half.

"And you call faunus the animals," the figure said then turned to the other patrons of the bar. Several patrons tried running for the door, but was suddenly pulled closed by a chained kusarigama originating from the cloaked figure. "Where are you going? I have much more to show you," the figure said, venom dripping with every word.

* * *

"And the cows are all in the barn," Ruby said looking at the bovines with Weiss playing fetch with Zwei behind her. "So now, we can eat dinner and go to bed."

"There seems to be a lot more to farming than I thought," Weiss said following Ruby out of the barn. "I just thought you had to plant then harvest."

"Where were you raised, in a palace?" Ruby asked picking up Zwei's fetching stick and threw it ahead having the corgi run ahead.

"Well…" Weiss trailed off not having Ruby hear her. From nearby the both heard a low growling. "What was that?"

"Probably a grimm," Ruby said, her expression hardening as she reached for her scythe. From around the corner Zwei ran up carrying a stick. He then dropped the stick and looked at the two confused. "Zwei, hold," Ruby said pulling her dagger from her boot and tossed it at the ground next to the dog. Zwei then walked over to the dagger and picked the weapon up by its handle with its mouth.

"You can't be serious, that little dog can't possibly fight a grimm," Weiss said gesturing towards the dog holding the dagger in its mouth.

A beowolf came from around the corner and looked at the three with its glowing red eyes. "You want to see how well he can fight?" Ruby asked smiling as she looked at Weiss. "Zwei, blitz."

The dog tilted its head and let out a low growl. He then started running at the beowolf, who Weiss swore laughed a little bit. The corgi then jumped at the beowolf cutting its side with the dagger. After Zwei landed, he ran back cutting the tendons of the beowolf's back legs forcing it to fall down and howl in pain. When its head came close enough to the ground, Zwei quickly twisted his head stabbing the beowolf on the bottom of its jaw into its head. The beowolf then turned to ash, and Zwei ran over to Ruby. He then dropped the dagger at her feet so she could put it in her boot.

"See," Ruby said gesturing to Zwei who let out two happy barks as he wagged his tail.

"How can something so adorable be so deadly?" Weiss asked herself looking at the dog.

* * *

"AAAHH!" the last patron shouted as the hooded figure ran their katana through his chest.

The tavern room was completely covered in blood of all the people in there. The hooded figure walked over to the burlap sac and picked it up. "I'm sorry, it's all my fault," the figure said walking to the fireplace and placed the sac in the flames. "Rest in peace." From behind the bar, a person accidentally bumped a tankard making a silent noise. A moment later the hooded figure jumped onto the bar and drew their katana placing it against the person's chest.

"P-p-please don't kill me," the man pleaded looking into the figure's glowing eyes. "I just work here. I had nothing to do with the faunus hunting."

"Tell me what I want to know," the figure said pressing the katana further on the man's chest. "The White Fang, where are they running to?"

"I-I don't know," he said then felt the blade press further on his chest piercing his skin. "But I did hear a rumor that they were moving south." The blade stopped. "If you go to the city of Vale, you'll probably hear more. It's about a week's journey from here on horseback. Can I go now?"

"No, you know a faunus did this. You can't live, I'm so sorry," the figure said then plunged her sword into the man's chest. The figure then pulled back her hood revealing black hair, cat ears, and face. She then took in a deep breath and looked towards the door. "Vale huh. I've never been there. I hope Nightmare doesn't mind riding at night."

* * *

 **Yay! Blake! A bit more murderous than usual though.** **We also got to see Blake's mortal enemy fight a beowolf.**

 **So yeah, the thing I need to say. A few days ago I injured my shoulder so now every time I move my arm, it hurts the shoulder and damages it further. Typing doesn't seem to have that much of an effect, but I can feel it hurting when I type. So I'm going to be taking a bit of a break from writing until it feels better. It may be just a few days or a week, so just bear with me. I like writing, just not to the point where I can't move my arms.**

 **So, until then, have a good day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	8. The Armor

**Hello everyone, this is the one armed sleep deprived J. Van A. Because my shoulder is really messed up, I can't use my left hand. I am actually very proficient at using one hand to type.**

 **People actually responded to Blake's introduction almost immediately. Seriously. Now, let me explain: Blake is an ex-White Fang with a past I will explain later. With her past it will make sense as to why she would kill a tavern full of people. Also, with faunus having a pretty bad name with the White Fang, if someone were to say that a White Fang member killed a tavern of people, faunus everywhere might be killed in fear of them being White Fang. Blake knows this, which is why she basically said, "There are no witnesses." (Also, I wanted to make her a bit more ninja like because ninjas would also leave no witnesses, but they would be a bit more discrete.) Also Guest, no actions are irredeemable, just let me write and judge me later.**

 **Ace Wolfblade: that was what I was going for the whole time.**

 **Before people think I'm going to update very fast again, I still intend on the break, but I had most of this typed up before all my shoulder problems occurred. All I needed to do was add a bit of dialogue here and some humor there. The longest part of this whole chapter is the AN.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

It had been a few days since the incident with the beowolf, and the duo of Weiss and Ruby managed to successfully harvest the second to last field. In the mornings Ruby would look for Zwei and make sure he had food, only to find Weiss cuddling with him having the corgi show an expression of terror. After harvesting and making sure the animals were in the pens, they ate dinner then Weiss dognapped the corgi before bed. In the morning of the next day, the two got a visit from Yang carrying a large case.

"Weiss, get over here," Yang exclaimed into the house as she walked in.

"Wha-" Weiss grumbled as she woke up loosening her grip on Zwei just in time for him to escape.

"Weiss. Here. Now," Yang said putting the case on the kitchen table with a thud. "Ruby, come see this."

"What's going on?" Ruby asked walking into the kitchen with Weiss following behind still sleepy. She then caught sight of the case and immediately brightened up. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yes, dad and I finished it yesterday night," Yang said opening the latch on the case. She then opened the top revealing several pieces of white armor with various black fabrics. "Special, one of a kind, the only one in existence, Weiss armor."

"Please don't tell me that's what you've been calling it," Weiss said with a yawn as she walked over to the table and looked at the armor. "How exactly do I put this on?"

"Come on, does she seriously not know how to put on armor?" Yang asked Ruby as Weiss grabbed the chestplate and looked at it.

"Well, she doesn't know how to do a lot of normal things," Ruby said causing the princess to shoot her a glare. "I'm just telling the truth."

"Well then," Weiss said picking up several pieces of the armor, "would one of you care to explain to me how to put these on?"

"Well first," Yang said reaching into the case and pulled out what appeared to be black fabric, "You need to put this on first."

* * *

"This is… weird," Weiss said walking back into the kitchen wearing the near skin tight black fabric blushing. "What is the point of this?"

"That is a special metallic fabric stronger and lighter than chainmail. It was made by the Court Wizard of Vale several years back before she was promoted to that position," Yang explained. "My dad actually was beginning his blacksmithing when he saw these fabrics that nobody was buying because they didn't believe they worked, and he bought them in bulk to make lots of armor starting his name. He only has a limited supply left, so it was surprising that he would make you a suit with it."

"Ok, so now what?" Weiss asked hiding in a doorway looking at the sisters with a very visible blush on her face.

"Now you can put these on," Yang said tossing Weiss white clothing.

A few minutes later Weiss came back into the room wearing a white skirt and shirt over the black armor, and she had a white bolero jacket with red lining over the white shirt.

"Well, this is… better," Weiss said looking at her current attire. "And I take it the armor goes on next."

"Well, yeah," Yang said gesturing for Weiss to come over. "Ruby, you can get working on the chores on the farm. I'll help Weiss for a bit." Ruby called Zwei over and had him follow her out if the building closing the door behind her. Weiss then walked over and sat on a nearby stool. Yang started pulling the armor from the case and began helping Weiss put it on. "Made from one of the strongest materials my dad owns, these things can stop the impact from a charging boarbatusk. You may go flying though."

"How reassuring," Weiss said attaching the pauldrons to her shoulder over the jacket.

"Would you rather be torn to pieces by the thing?" Yang asked tightening the belt on Weiss's back securing the pauldrons in place. "The upper arm armor is really easy to put on just like the gauntlets." She then helped her place the armor on her arm. "The leg armor is pretty simple. It all is just on one pant leg that you can secure to your waist similar to a garter belt."

"What's a garter belt?"

"It attaches to a belt around your waist to prevent slipping," Yang quickly answered as Weiss slid the legs on and attached it to the waist of her under armor. "This," she held up a belt with several thin metal bars on it, "is an attachment for your skirt. You secure the belt over the waist of the skirt and attach each individual metal piece to the ends of your skirt. It isn't perfect protection, but it'll be enough." She wrapped the belt around Weiss's waist and straightened any armor pieces. "This part takes the most time, so I'll help you with the back."

"Alright," Weiss said as she started attaching the metal pieces and Yang did the back. A few minutes later the skirt was completed. "So is that all?"

"If you want to be shot in the chest with arrows," Yang said pulling two somewhat large pieces of armor from the case. "This is the chestplate. It doesn't cover your whole upper body, but it protects the ribs, heart, and lungs from any attacks." She pulled the two pieces apart form the bottom and slid the whole thing over Weiss's head. When Yang let go of the armor, it stopped at the middle of Weiss's back and just after her ribs. The chestplate itself was pretty simple, but on the front it had a black line on the left side where it bent. Yang then walked to Weiss's side and tightened the straps making sure the armor wasn't loose. "And there you have it."

"Well, it do have to admit, this is very comfortable and lightweight," Weiss said walking around the room.

"Yeah, and it's flexible, so you can easily move with that rapier my dad is making," Yang said somewhat proud of her work. "The under armor itself is almost as strong as the regular armor, plus since it was specially enchanted, it can't get too warm or too cold, which is a major concern when traveling during winter or in a desert."

"Yes, this will be very useful," Weiss said as she spun around quickly not noticing herself being any slower. "Your father really is the best blacksmith in all of Remnant."

"Well, I actually made most of the armor," Yang said causing Weiss to stop her spinning. "Dad helped out with the chest plate and the under armor, but everything else was me."

"Well then, you are one of two best blacksmiths of Remnant," Weiss said then started to take off the pieces of armor. "So now begins the process of taking this off."

"You know," Yang said leaning on the table, "Part of learning how to be a blacksmith is travelling and finding special ores."

"And what does that have to do with this?" Weiss asked not paying that much attention as she was detaching her pant legs.

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted a travelling partner," Yang said causing Weiss to freeze and drop the pant legs she was easing down.

"You want to travel with me?"

"Well, yes," Yang answered her. "I've been trying to travel for a long time, and my dad doesn't want me to do it on my own since I would be alone. Also in case of a grimm attack it's always better to have two people there."

"Yang, where I am going, it's no place for a person like you," Weiss said sitting across from Yang. "It will be dangerous, difficult, life threatening when we get there, and you may have to kill."

"Are you sure you know who you're talking to?" Yang asked raising an eyebrow at the princess causing her to be taken aback a bit. "Anyway, I can handle anything. The question is, can you?"

"Wha- of course I can!" Weiss nearly shouted at Yang.

"Alright then," Yang said rolling her eyes. "Well, think about this, if any parts of your armor or weapon become damaged, you'll need a pretty good blacksmith to repair it, and I'm pretty sure you don't want to be making several trips across Remnant."

Weiss stopped and weighed her options. Her main problem would be the funding, and as it was shown before, Yang had a problem with keeping her gold. If she had to pay for two people, her funds would last her less than two months. "Will you take care of yourself, financially?" Weiss asked her raising an eyebrow at the blonde.

"Yes, I'm not a complete idiot," Yang said looking at Weiss with a deadpan expression.

"Fine, if you want to travel with me, you can," Weiss said going back to taking off her armor. "I'm going to be leaving after the harvest festival when your father finishes making my sword. If you still want to go by then, feel free to come."

"Alright," Yang said standing up from the table and headed to the door. "Just make sure to help Ruby finish harvesting."

"Yeah, yeah," Weiss said taking off the chestplate."

* * *

"So, you're leaving," a voice said causing Yang to immediately freeze up as she closed the door. Turning her head to the side she saw Ruby leaning against the wall of the house next to the window. "I heard everything. When were you planning on telling me?"

"Ruby, I… I was going to tell you at the harvest festival," Yang said hanging her head down. "Are you mad?"

"I… no," Ruby said walking over to her sister. "I know you want to find Raven, and you won't stop until you do, I understand. If it were the same situation with Summer, I'd probably do the same."

"Thanks," Yang said pulling Ruby into a hug which she returned.

"Just be careful, ok," Ruby said burying her face in Yang's shoulder. "I really don't want to lose somebody close to me again."

"Don't worry," Yang said letting go of Ruby, "I'm not going to die. It'll take a lot to kill me." She flexed her arm emphasise her point. "Now then, I should be getting back to town to help dad with the other orders while he's making Weiss's sword. You should probably go help Weiss take off that armor before she hurts herself."

"She's not going to hurt herself. She's a very smart skil-" Ruby said then there was a loud crash and a yelp from inside the house. "Ok, I'll help her. Stay safe."

"You to," Yang said waving back at Ruby as she walked over to the stables.

* * *

"How can you get stuck taking off your skirt?" Ruby asked looking at Weiss who was currently face first on the ground with one pant leg strewn across her back making it apparent that it had kicked her in the head. The armor plates in the skirt were half taken off before the whole thing flipped upward.

"Just shut up and help me," Weiss said blushing as she tried to move her arm only to have it get further tangled with the second pant leg.

"Weiss."

"What?!"

"I can see everything," Ruby said causing Weiss to blush profusely. "Are you even wearing undergarmets under that thing?"

"Shut up!"

* * *

 **Yeah so, that happened. It took a while to come up with Weiss's armor so I kind of went like Bell Cranel's armor, but changed it up a bit.**

 **I am very tired right now, and my shoulder really hurts, so I'm going to be done for the day.**

 **Have a good day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	9. The Journey of a Black Cat

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A here back from my mini break. I know it doesn't seem like that due to the updates throughout the week, but I'm actually back to writing from scratch. I had the last chapter already pretty much done in my cliff notes document for describing the armor, all I actually wrote that day was part of the interaction with Ruby and Yang, then Weiss's blunder. I've probably spent an hour writing, well adding to, the last chapter.**

 **This chapter I had mostly done, but was going to add more to it, is part of Blake's backstory. It really doesn't explain all of the reasons behind her actions, but it does explain a lot of them. You may have to read between the lines a little bit. Anyway, the reason why I'm posting this is because people seem to think Blake is a bit... different than the show, aside from the fact that this is an AU.**

 **I'm also doing the weird thing where I respond to reviews because I guess that's a thing.**

 **(Complimentary) Guest: thanks, I wanted to do some humor for a little while and add in some seriousness.**

 **(Confused) Guest: Blake isn't evil, nor dark grey. You'll see what I mean below. Also, wait for future chapters. The team hasn't even assembled, I mean, sub-team Freezerburn is a go, so...**

 **(Sassy) Guest: Though I agree with your philosophy, you may be a bit right about it being just a piece of fiction. If you've read any of my BLZEing Remnant stories, you'd know that I'm not shy towards a bit of killing in my writing. Also, this is medieval _-ish_ times, so killing was sort of common, also even though I didn't explain it thoroughly, not everyone in the tavern was innocent. I had hoped to mention it later, but like I mentioned before, a bunch of people were confused. So it's mentioned below.**

 **KibaPT: Corgis are balls of floof that are perfect for cuddling. Also, the embarrassing has only just begun.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Damn! Where is that bitch?!" Adam shouted throwing a nearby suit of armor onto the floor of the room in a fit of rage causing Blake to jump back in surprise.

"Adam, why are we attacking the castle? The king isn't even here. We should go to Fort Mantle and attack him directly," Blake said as she walked near the fireplace.

"We don't have enough forces to attack the man's stronghold directly, the White Fang just isn't that big, but there is something else we can do," Adam said to her. "We can destroy everything he loves. It will eventually kill him from the inside." At that, Blake heard a sharp breath come from inside the fireplace quiet enough that only she could hear it. Thinking quickly, she walked forward blocking Adam's path towards the fireplace.

"But don't you think we're just killing too many people? Our enemy is the king-" Blake said before Adam cut her off.

"As long as even a single faunus is enslaved, every Schnee is our enemy!" Adam shouted at her making her recoil back in fear. "Come on, we'll check the other rooms," he said to her leaving the room, so she quickly followed him closing the door behind her.

"Still, I don't think all this murder is going to help our cause," Blake said as Adam kicked open a nearby door to look inside. In the room was a group of scared maids, humans and faunus alike. Adam quickly drew his sword and Blake closed her eyes. A few moments later and a few screams, it was over. Opening her eyes, Blake could see all of the human maids dead on the floor and the faunus maids huddled in the corner of the room.

"She's not here. Come on, Blake," Adam barked at her leaving the room

"What did those people do to deserve death?" Blake asked him starting to get mad at him. "They just were in the building."

"They work for the Schnees, guilty by association," Adam said kicking in another door that just seemed to be a supply closet.

"So, just the humans deserved to die?"

"You know as well as I that that those faunus were slaves," Adam said walking to the next door.

"So you just decided to be executioner, deciding who lives and who dies," Blake said causing Adam to stop and turn to her.

"Nobody else is doing it!" he shouted at her. "The Schnees think that just because they're rich, they can get away with anything, even slavery. They started the whole slave trade centuries ago, and they just think they can buy and sell lives. Do you have a better idea of what should be done, Blake? Please, enlighten me."

"I… I… I don't know, but this," she gestured toward the castle. "Adam, we killed the queen. She wasn't even of the Schnee bloodline. And now you want to murder a kid."

"Actually, she's probably the same age as you. Now while her mother may not have been of Schnee blood, the daughter Weiss is. Now, Winter Schnee and her father are at Fort Mantle, so Weiss and her other were the only ones here, when the castle is least defended," Adam said kicking in the next door only to have it be empty.

"Adam, this is not what I wanted when I joined the White Fan-"

"You and I both know how you came to be part of the White Fang, Blake," he said scowling at her beneath the mask.

"I can't be part of this Adam."

"Do you want to leave?" Adam asked her then cut a nearby column with his sword. "If you want to go, feel free. Just remember, you will be hunted as a traitor. Because of our past, I won't kill you on the spot, but if we were ever to cross paths again-"

"I understand," Blake said turning her back to him and began walking away. "I don't intend on coming back."

* * *

Upon exiting the castle, Blake stuck to the shadows as the knights of Atlas began storming the castle. Apparently, she had left just in time since the rest of the White Fang forces began fighting the knights. No doubt Adam would survive this leaving a trail of corpses behind him.

All that Blake was thinking about was getting off of the estate. She made her way toward the stables where nobody seemed to be gathered except for a couple maids and some other servants who tried to avoid the fighting. Blake ran over to the sides of the stables and grabbed a ratty black cloak that likely belonged to a servant. As she slipped it over her shoulders, Blake spotted a white figure covered in soot leave the castle from a side exit.

Walking into the stables, Blake saw several of the horses freaking out from the battle ensuing. In the far stall there was a black horse completely calm. Approaching the horse, Blake could see that it had red eyes that simply looked at her. Then it bowed its head at her for a second then nudged her slightly.

"I take it you want me to take you," Blake said getting another nudge from the horse. "Well then, you should have a name." Suddenly the stall doors were being banged on by several knights probably looking for White Fang who had probably left already. "But we should probably wait till we're safe for that." She jumped onto the horse's back and cut the stable door freeing the horse. They both ran out of the stable bursting down the door knocking down several knights. She quickly sheathed her sword and held onto the horse's neck.

After several minutes, the two of them made it off the Schnee estate. They had travelled into the woods a way until they made it to a clearing near a waterfall. Deciding to stop there, Blake hopped off the horse's back and began making a camp site. An hour later Blake had a decent fire going and the horse walked over to Blake and laid down.

"Hey, horse," she said getting a nudge from the animal. "What am I going to do? I just left without any plan for myself. Now I'm stuck in a kingdom that probably wants me dead, in the middle of nowhere, with no plan. This is just a nightmare." She paused and thought for a moment. "Nightmare. That's a good name. Do you like that, Nightmare?" Blake asked the horse getting a neigh in response. "Well then, Nightmare. I guess we need to take this one step at a time. Tomorrow, we can figure out what to do."

* * *

It had been nearly a week since Blake made that camp. After a few grimm attacks, she fortified the camp with a few spiked barricades made from fallen trees. She even travelled to a nearby town and gathered a couple essentials. Her camp was now a decent place she and Nightmare could stay until the whole ordeal with the queen's assassination was over.

On her next weekly trip into the town, Blake noticed something different in the town square's bounty board. It was a new wanted paper with the White Fang's symbol on the sheet saying that any capture of White Fang members, dead or alive, could be turned in for a reward, as per request of the king.

Double checking that her hood was still up, Blake entered the tavern and sat down at a table in the back. Aside from having a spy network, the most effective way to get news is through the local tavern where travellers told of what has been happening outside of the little village. Blake knew this, so every week she would travel to the same tavern, and using her faunus hearing, listened in on conversations around the building.

From what she gathered, in the two weeks that the king had made the bounty effective, barely anybody from Atlas had managed to catch a couple White Fang. On the southwest coast of Atlas, three White Fang grunts were caught in three separate towns. In the northern portion of Mantle two members were caught fleeing the continent by a fishing trip when they found the two drifting.

What was interesting was that the other kingdoms were having a better time collecting the bounty. Mostly from towns that were mostly harbor towns that had been losing money recently due to a bad fishing year. The most peculiar part was the town of Solaris on the northern end of Vale, populated mostly by fishermen and farmers. They had already caught over thirty "White Fang" members, despite consisting of fishermen and farmers.

Suspecting something, Blake left the tavern and made her way back to camp. Then meeting up with Nightmare, they packed up and left. After a few days ride she made it to a harbor town and bought passage to Solaris staying with Nightmare under the deck.

After landing in Solaris, Blake made her way into the local tavern keeping her hood up. She then walked to the back table and opened her book to read. A waitress came by and took her order, then left. While she was reading, Blake kept her ears tuned into the conversations hoping to find the source of the reason behind the high bounties.

Her attention was immediately drawn to a group of men gathered around a table seemingly celebrating. Her eyes then were drawn to a large burlap sac on the ground next to them that seemed to have a red fluid staining the bottom.

* * *

After leaving the tavern, Blake made her way to the town stables where she had Nightmare stay. When she approached the horse she noticed that she still didn't have a saddle for it. So she walked over to a nearby horse's stable and stole the spare saddle. After securing it to Nightmare, Blake secured her supplies then hopped on the horse's back and left.

As she was leaving the town, there was a shriek coming from the town. It probably was someone who had discovered the tavern. Part of her wanted to stay and eliminate herself as a suspect, but she didn't. She knew that if there was going to be no more bloodshed, she had to stop the White Fang, despite the feeling in the pit of her stomach telling her to stay away.

"Come on, Nightmare. To Vale," Blake told the horse then they both sped down the road into the night.

* * *

 **And there we go, Blake during the month between the assassination and the beginning of the story.**

 **Anyway, Blake had intended to stay out of the fight and live in her camp, but then she learned of some interesting information. So she decided to investigate the reason behind the high bounty rewards and found the town of fishermen hatching their scheme. Some people may disapprove of Blake's method of resolving the problem, but I wrote it so hey. Not to mention the people doing most of the faunus killings were there anyway.**

 **Now then, since my shoulder is mostly healed, I can actually do some more writing. So I can maybe finish the whole Patch arc and get on with the actual plot of the story since the White Fang isn't based on the island. Maybe I'll have the return of everyone's favorite bird, or I'll have Taiyang finish Weiss's sword.**

 **Anyway, I think this is going to be the end of the AN.**

 **(Update Van: I know in canon Weiss's mother is the Schnee and Jacques married into the family, but I wrote this before that was revealed. So yeah, we have a divergence from canon already.)**

 **So, everyone have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	10. The Crow and the Sword

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with an update for this story a little late. I'm sorry, but my shoulder was acting up a bit again and I had a bunch of homework to do. So yeah, I didn't have much time to write.**

 **I did make this chapter a bit longer than usual, but I think it works well with the story. We finally get to see Weiss's sword, and even a bunch of interaction with Qrow.**

 **Anyway, review response (should I keep doing this)**

 **Bill Gopher: Watch and you'll get the answer as to who is the better smith. Also, I kind of have my suspicions about Qrow being Ruby's real dad. I mean, it's pretty much been shown that Taiyang's genes are dominant showing in Yang's blonde hair despite Raven being black haired. Though in genetics blonde hair is a recessive trait, so the fact that Yang's hair is blonde is a real mystery. We don't know what Summer's real hair color is, but people speculate it's either fully red or brown with red tips, so if we mix Qrow's black hair in, we get everyone's favorite reaper's hair.**

 **tenofprime: Yeah, the later also is only part of the reason. There's another part to her actions, but I'm going to reveal it later.**

 **(Sassy) Guest: Truce?**

 **(Other guest I can't find a witty adjective to) Guest: Yes, it is only a small part of the story.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Aaaand we're done!" Ruby exclaimed as she cut down the last bit of wheat with Crescent Rose, "And with a day to spare before the harvest festival."

"That was exhausting," Weiss said sitting down on the ground letting her farming scythe fall to the ground.

"If you think that was difficult, you should be here in spring when we plant," Ruby said sitting next to her. "Uncle Qrow would always complain that it was boring." The two sat in silence as Weiss caught her breath.

"So, what happens next?" Weiss asked as her breathing returned to normal.

"Well," Ruby said standing up securing Crescent Rose to her back, "the other workers should be almost done collecting the wheat, so we don't have to worry about that. Since Uncle Qrow isn't back yet, the workers can just store the wheat in one of the buildings for the next few days. Uncle Qrow also doesn't really let me work here when they are grinding the wheat since it's boring and doesn't need that many people."

"So then what are you going to do?" Weiss asked standing up cracking her back.

"I guess since Yang is travelling with you, I'd have to help dad out with the forge." Ruby starting to walk out of the fields when she spotted Yang riding into the farm on her yellow horse. "And Yang's here. Come on," she said jogging towards the house with Weiss trailing behind.

* * *

"Stupid boat ride," Qrow muttered to himself as he approached Taiyang's blacksmith shop. Opening the door ringing the bell, he expected to see Yang manning the shop area only to find it empty. In the back of the shop he could hear the distinct sounds of a hammer striking metal. "Tai, I'm here!" he said as he walked past the counter to the forge.

Outside in the forge area Qrow saw Taiyang wearing his typical long sleeved yellow tunic with leather apron carrying a large warhammer walking over to the other end of the forge not paying Qrow any attention. Qrow could see a shining metal straight rapier leaning against an anvil in the area Taiyang was walking to. With one swift movement Taiyang lifted the warhammer above his head then slammed it onto the sword creating a deafening crack sending metal shards flying at Qrow giving him barely any time to dodge.

"So, was there a point to destroying a perfectly good sword?" Qrow asked Taiyang only causing the blonde man to turn and smile.

"What are you talking about?" Taiyang asked moving out of the way to show Qrow the sword was still intact. Then he raised the warhammer in his hands showing that he block had been shattered. "I think this is one of the best weapon I've ever made."

"Nice," Qrow said walking over to the blacksmith and inspected the sword. "I take it this is for her highness?"

"How did you know she was the princess?"

"I'm not an idiot," Qrow answered immediately. "You're not the only one who traveled to Atlas before. Anyway, I was the one who patched her up after a beowolf attack."

"You do have a point," Taiyang said tossing the destroyed warhammer into a pile of scrap metal. "So, why are you here?"

"Ozpin is sending me on a mission," Qrow said causing Taiyang's expression to harden.

"Really, what is that man thinking?" Taiyang asked leaning against a nearby table.

"He thinks something fishy is going on," Qrow answered looking at Taiyang. "So, I need my things."

"Yeah, I know. They're still in the basement," Taiyang answered him then Qrow walked over to the cellar door. "The chest is hidden in the wall behind the barrels of ore."

"I know, I helped you build this place, remember," he replied walking into the basement.

Qrow made his way down the stairs and past the workbenches. Then he walked by the hanging tools over the table with half finished sets of armor. He made it to the barrels of ore, and with some force, moved the things to reveal the lone chest in the hole in the wall.

He reached up and pulled the chest out with a thud as it hit the ground. Hen he opened it letting the dust fly in the air. The first thing Qrow could see was a grey set of armor connected to Taiyang's special chainmail. After he removed the armor, Qrow could see a white bundle covering a weapon, and on the top of the bundle it split off to make a hood with a red lining. Before he could reach down and touch said bundle, Qrow quickly shut the chest and inserted it back into its place in the wall.

After moving the barrels back in place in front of the wall, Qrow walked outside to find Taiyang wrapping the handle of the rapier in leather. He walked over to the table and sat down to wait for the blacksmith to finish.

"So, Yang's leaving," Taiyang said starting up a conversation as he finished the binding. "She's going to be leaving with her highness after the festival is over."

"And what about Ruby?" Qrow asked him relaxing in his chair. "I'm sure she would end up following her sister."

"Ruby is staying," Taiyang said causing Qrow to look him in the eyes. Despite how he may have wanted to appear, Qrow could tell Taiyang was worried from how his fist was clenching.

"Really? I thought Ruby and Yang would be inseparable," Qrow said ignoring Taiyang's quick glare. "Not to mention, Ruby probably would jump at the first chance to help out the princess, she's like her mother that way."

"Don't bring up Summer," Taiyang nearly snapped at him.

"Yeah, I know, it's a touchy subject," Qrow said nonchalantly, "but you've noticed Ruby's behavior. Despite your attempts to ground her down, she's becoming more and more like her mother. You know that one of these days she's going to follow in her mother's footsteps."

"A teacher would not be bad," Taiyang said causing Qrow to sigh.

"Tai, you and I both know that's not the case. I may have become a farmer, but I'm still one of the Elite Knights of Vale, and you know it was the same thing for Summer," Qrow said then ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm bored. Let's go to the tavern, I could use a drink."

* * *

"Ruby!" Yang exclaimed jumping onto her sister pulling her into a tight hug.

"Yang, let go," Ruby struggled to say as Yang tightened her grip. "Yang… need air."

"I've missed you soo much~" Yang said tightening her grip on Ruby cracking her back slightly.

"Only… few days," Ruby said, her face already turning a light shade of purple. "Yang… air."

"Let go of her, you brute!" Weiss shouted then quickly knocked Yang on the head forcing the blonde to let go of Ruby. Yang then fell to her knees and held her head around where a visible lump was forming. "Honestly, she's your sister. You two see each other all the time…" Weiss trailed off as she remembered her few interactions with Winter. "So, why did you come here?"

"Right," Yang said perking right back up seemingly unaffected by Weiss's hit. "Dad wanted me to tell you he finished making your custom sword. He just wanted to test the durability while I went to tell you."

"Oh, a new sword! Let's go!" Ruby exclaimed then bolted out of the house to the stables to saddle up the horses.

"So…"

"Yeah, she's always like that," Yang sighed as she leaned against a nearby wall. "So, are we leaving right after the festival, or the day after?"

"It'll probably be best if we leave the day after since grimm activity happens a lot at night," Weiss said then the door was suddenly thrown open with Ruby standing there breathing heavily. Behind her were Snowflake and Chestnut both saddled and ready to go. "How did you even manage to get the horses here in that short amount of time?"

"I'm… really fast," Ruby said between breaths. "Come on, let's go get your sword."

* * *

"I'm serious, no normal person can run that fast," Weiss said furthering the debate with the two sisters that had been going on for the past several minutes as they trotted down the road towards town. "Even the best runners of Atlas take a while to run a mile."

"And Ruby here can do it in a couple of minutes, jogging," Yang said pulling the reigns of her horse a little to slow it down. "Bumblebee, not everything is a race."

"Can we stop talking about me," Ruby complained from the back of the group hiding her embarrassment with her hood. "I'm not that special, just a normal girl."

"Who happens to be very fast and proficient at killing grimm," Weiss pointed out slowing down a little bit so Snowflake was trotting at the same pace as Chestnut. "Honestly, if I had to chose, I would rather take you with me as a travelling companion than this blond brute." As she finished, Ruby froze and went into thought as Yang quickly shot a glare at the princess. "I'm just being honest. Your company is appreciated, Yang."

"Sure," Yang said as they made their way into town.

After the three placed their horses in the stables, they started walking into town. A couple times Ruby had to catch Yang by the arm or hair to keep her from going into a tavern. That lead to a couple mini-mishaps between the sisters, but strangely the townsfolk were not phased by the sisters brawling.

After finally making it to the blacksmith shop, the sisters were greeted by the interesting sight of Taiyang passed out at the worktable of the forge with a tankard laying by his hand. Next to the man was a tall man with black hair and red eyes resting his feet on the table drinking from a tankard with one hand resting on the back of his head.

"Uncle Qrow!" the sisters exclaimed running to the black haired man and jumping over the table to give him a hug ultimately leading to him falling backwards crashing to the ground.

"Jeez you two," Qrow said with a chuckle then looked to his hand and saw the tankard facing up not having spilled any of his drink. "At least I saved the ale."

"Uncle Qrow, where have you been?" Yang asked as the three of them picked themselves up off the ground.

"I had to run an errand for an old friend," Qrow said as he finished his drink. Then he placed it on the table next to Taiyang. "Your dad is a lightweight, after the first barrel he just passed out."

"Qrow, that's not healthy," Ruby said somewhat concerned.

"And neither is you being in three places at once," Qrow said squinting his eyes at Ruby. "I know you're crazy fast, but this is a bit much."

"That's it, he's drunk," Yang said throwing her hands in the air in frustration.

"I'm not drunk," he said then hiced. "I'm not sober though."

"Come on," Ruby said pulling Qrow's arm over her shoulders and began walking to the building. "Yang, I'll watch these two. You and Weiss get the sword and some supplies."

"Are you going to be fine by yourself?" Yang asked her as she stood in the doorway.

"I've done this before, Yang. Anyway, I'm going to be doing this a lot after you are gone," Ruby said closing the door behind her and Qrow.

"You know, I can travel by myself if you want to stay," Weiss said after noticing Yang's expression of sadness.

"No, Ruby is a big girl, she can handle being by herself," Yang said walking to the workbench where the rapier was located. "So, this is the one of a kind weapon my dad made for you." She picked it up and handed it to Weiss. "What do you think?"

Weiss held the sword in her left hand and inspected it. The blade was a double edged straight sword leading down to the leather bound handle. On top of the handle was a loop hand guard that went down to the knuckle guard. The knuckle went down, but didn't connect to the spike shaped pommel.

"This is an amazing sword," Weiss said getting into a fencing stance and jabbed at the air a couple of times. "It's perfectly balanced and not too heavy."

"Also, it's made from a nearly indestructible metal, so you won't have to ever worry about the durability," Yang added looking at the weapon. "It's also the same material as my gauntlets and Ruby's scythe's blade."

"I see," Weiss said then sheathed it on her belt. "Well then, I guess we should go buy some supplies for our journey. I suggest we purchase some dried foods so they last."

* * *

"Come on, big guy," Ruby said grunting as she set Qrow down on a chair in the kitchen area. "Man, I hope I don't weigh that much when I'm old."

"I'm not old," Qrow said then stood up, "and I'm not drunk."

"Wait, then why did you need me to get inside?"

"I needed to talk to you," he said then stumbled a bit, "also I might be a bit tipsy."

"Qrow, what's going on?" she asked him as he walked into the shop and looked at swords.

"Your sister is travelling with that woman," he said picking up a large longsword and sheathed it on his belt. "Have you thought about going with her?"

"I… a little," Ruby said looking to the floor.

"If you ask me, I say do it," he said surprising her. "Ruby, you're fifteen. Sure some people may see that as still a child, but you're most likely more mature than most adults. Also, I'm sure even you don't want to stay on Patch forever. The world of Remnant is a big place, and this island is just a small part of it."

"But Qrow, dad is going to need me here and you have the farmwor-"

"Tai has been a blacksmith long before you girls were born, and he'll still be doing it long after you leave," Qrow said then cracked his back. "And also, my farm is pretty efficient on its own, so I think I can handle it without your help."

"So you're just telling me to leave?" Ruby asked him as he stood in the doorway.

"Ruby, you remind me so much of your mother. She wasn't a native of Patch, or Vale for that matter. She met your father after travelling for several years and that lead to the creation of you," he said walking to the door picking up a large sack. "The one you're destined to be with isn't likely to be on this small island. Travel, see the world and all its wonders, but if you want to stay, then do it. Listen to your heart. You're going to go far, kid, but you just have to keep moving forward in your life. Just think about it," he said then closed the door behind him as he started making his way to the stables.

Ruby just stood there thinking to herself. "What do I want?"

Meanwhile, outside Qrow was happy. He had managed to take one of Taiyang's most expensive swords for free, and the guy wouldn't even know he took it.

* * *

 **There we go, the seed has been planted in Ruby's mind, repeatedly. Now all that's left is one normal day then the harvest festival. After that we can finally get on with the story.**

 **Anyway, I tried to make the Qrow and Tai interaction seem like they tolerate each other. I also tried to connect their past involving Summer's things a bit.**

 **So, I'm a bit tired. Reviews are appreciated.**

 **I wonder, if someone out there would actually take their time doing it, could they draw something for this story and I'd put it as the cover photo. I've seen other writers do things like this, so I'm curious to see what you guys would come up with. If you actually decide to do this, just message me or something with a link to the image. I know this story isn't that far in that fanarts would actually have a basis, but I don't know. If I put this out there, then maybe later people may do it.**

 **So, I'm going to bed.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	11. Decisions, Decisions

**Hello, people who are still surprisingly reading my story, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and The Rose.**

 **Today, I decided to go with a somewhat serious chapter that actually connects a lot with the plot for the story focusing heavily on Ruby.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"God… damn it, Qrow," Taiyang said waking up from his drink induced pacing out. He quickly set his tankard down and looked to the other side of the table and saw Ruby there staring at him disapprovingly. "For the record, he started it."

"Dad…"

"Ok fine, I started it," he said rubbing his temples. "Don't look at me like that. So, I take it Yang and the other one are out getting supplies."

"Yeah, Weiss said something about dried meats before I left the area," Ruby said then was silent being in thought.

"So, Rosebud, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Ruby, I know when something's bothering you," he said removing his hand from his temples and looked at her. "You always puff out your cheeks a little when you think hard."

"It's just… something Qrow told me."

"Oh no, I've dreaded the thought of Qrow explaining this to you before I did," he groaned. "Well Ruby, when a man and a woman love each other very much-"

"Dad! I know about sex," Ruby said shocking Taiyang. "It's just… dad, could I-"

"No."

"What?! You don't even know what I was going to ask."

"You were going to ask if you could go with Yang and travel around Remnant," he said leaning back in his chair.

"But-"

"Ruby, you are a fifteen year old farm hand. You have never been past the City of Vale, and most of your life has been spent here on Patch."

"Dad, why are you being so difficult? You basically just let Yang leave without a second thought, but if I ask you immediately shoot me down."

"Ruby, Yang is old enough that she can leave and be fine. Also, her apprenticeship requires her to travel and search for rare ores," he tried to reason with her. "I know Qrow isn't busy during the winter, but if you're not here in the spring, then the farm may not run as efficiently. You know that Qrow relies on you for most of the work. Also, what about teaching the other children? You learned how to read and write years ago, and you said that you wanted to be like your mother. Summer never would've just left. She was a very skilled schoolteach-"

"Dad, I know Summer wasn't really a schoolteacher," Ruby said causing Taiyang to sputter. "You and uncle Qrow would always talk about her whenever you both thought Yang and I weren't there. I know that she died after going on a mission that neither of you knew about, not from being attacked by bandits when she was returning to Patch. Dad, I'm fifteen, but I'm not a little kid. You need to understand that. Just because I'm younger doesn't mean I'm innocent. Dad, I've had to fight and kill grimm, so you don't have to disguise the truth."

"Ruby, I…" he paused then sighed as he threw his head back. "I just can't lose you. I've already lost too many important people, first Raven, then Summer, and now Yang. Call me selfish, but I just can't lose you too. Where that girl is going, can only lead to pain and death."

"Dad, I love you, but I also can't just abandon Yang, or Weiss. Mom would've helped her out without a second thought. It just seems like the right thing to do," she said then turned around and left the forge leaving the blacksmith to himself.

Taiyang took a deep breath then sighed. He then reached down to his side and picked up one of the barrels of ale he and Qrow were using earlier. With one quick movement he popped the top off of the barrel and poured himself another tankard of ale.

"' _Seems like the right thing to do,'_ huh," Taiyang said to himself raising the tankard to his mouth, "She's so much like you, Summer."

* * *

"With that I believe that we may have enough supplies to last us for a period of time," Weiss said hoisting the bag of supplies into Snowflake's saddlebags next to the portable tent stored on the saddle's back. "We may have to worry about supplies later along with money. So I guess we will have to worry about that when the time comes."

"We could just do some odd jobs for money," Yang said then shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, I could forge some weapons and get us a bunch of gold, but that would take a while. Ruby would probably have a better idea of things we could do, but she's going to be staying here."

"Do you think we should ask her to come with?" Weiss asked her. "I mean, she saved me, and she basically takes care of you. I'm sure she wouldn't mind coming along."

"You'd have to ask her, but I'm sure Ruby would say yes," Yang said jumping onto Bumblebee's back. "The real problem would be convincing dad. We would have to get him _real_ drunk though. He's severely stubborn when he's sober."

"Well, there is plenty of time before we leave," Weiss said getting on Snowflake's back. "We could possibly convince him before we leave."

"That might not be the best idea," Yang said as the two of them rode their horses out of the stables and headed down the trail to Qrow's farm. "As much as I would want Ruby to come with, I don't want her to get in danger."

* * *

After Ruby left the forge, she went to the stables and retrieved Chestnut after feeding Snowflake and Bumblebee. A while later she and Chestnut both started trotting down the road over towards home out of town. Before she reached the fork in the road leading to either the Branwen Farm or the Xiao Long household, Ruby came across her uncle who had been walking for the past hour.

"Hey, kid," Qrow greeted her as she had chestnut slow down to match Qrow's speed. "Can I catch a lift?"

"What happened to your horse?" Ruby asked him causing the man to chuckle a little.

"I kinda left him back at the farm before I left for Vale," he said causing the rose to sigh.

"Hop on," she said helping him up on the horse's back.

"Thanks, kid," he said as they both went down the trail towards the farm. "So, have you thought about what I've said?"

"I… kinda," she told him as Chestnut sped up having the farm show up in the distance. "I tried talking to dad about it, but-"

"But he told you no, right?"

"Yeah," Ruby muttered. "I wish he would stop treating me like a child. I'm old enough to think for myself."

"I know, Ruby," he said as they neared the farm. "I just think Tai is being a bit overprotective. I can completely understand his reasons too, but I think you can easily be your own person. For as long as I've known Tai, he may seem like a complete idiot, but he knows what's right, though it may take him a while to realize it. If you want, I could talk to him. I know how to push him towards a certain decision."

"Thanks, uncle Qrow," Ruby said stopping Chestnut in front of the house to let Qrow off the horse.

"So, with the farm work done, what are you going to do in the time being?" he asked her setting his sack down on the porch with a thud.

"I think… I'm probably just going to spend some time alone," Ruby said getting Qrow's interest. "I'm probably going to not be here tonight, so just watch over Weiss."

"Will do," he chuckled. "Be careful, kid." At that Ruby turned Chestnut and turned back to the path. "So much like her mother," he said to himself then turned around to get back to work on the farm and finish harvesting before the festival.

* * *

After Weiss and Yang's ride of uncomfortable silence, they both made it to the Branwen farm to the interesting sight of all the workers assembled in front of the barn. In the middle of them seemed to be a line of tables covered in barrels and tankards that seemed to be strewn about the place in several piles.

"What is going on?" Weiss asked Yang as they both dismounted their horses and started walking taking their supplies of the saddles.

"It seems to be Qrow's yearly harvest celebration," Yang explained setting the supplies down on the porch. "Whenever they finish harvesting and collecting the wheat, Qrow opens up his stash of ale and rewards the workers for their hard work. Typically, this kind of merry event ends in a drinking contest."

"So, who usually wins?" Weiss asked setting the supplies down.

"The man with the most empty glasses next to him."

Weiss turned to look at the gathering and saw Qrow drinking from a simple wooden tankard. It wouldn't have been that relevant until she watched him finish drinking it and set the empty glass down on the ground next to his chair… that seemed to be made of empty tankards… and next to him was two decently sized piles of empty tankards. "How can a man drink so much. At least we will not be partaking in any such activity, right Yang?" she asked the blacksmith apprentice as she turned to walk over to the house. Her only response was silence. "Yang?" She turned to look for the apprentice only to see the blonde already in the midst of the party. "I'm so dead," she said throwing her hands up in the air in frustration.

* * *

 **So, you know how earlier I said that this was going to be somewhat serious? I meant only about Ruby, the rest of this story seemed like comedy filler. I mean, honestly, at this point I'm pretty sure all of Qrow's bodily fluids has been replaced with ale and his bladder is invincible making him the man who doesn't have to pee.**

 **I didn't mean to make it seem like the default for lack of action was drinking, but I personally find drunkedness funny. My older brother is hilarious when drunk, but his friend (who is a guy) offers to make out with me (also a guy) when drunk and I am very much straight. I've never personally drank alcohol, much less gotten drunk, but I have a pretty good idea about how drunk people act.**

 **So yeah, in case nobody picked it up, I was seriously focusing on Ruby basically being an adult. I never really understood why people don't understand that just because Ruby is fifteen, she can be mature. When I was fifteen I was more mature than my twenty three year old brother that everyone respected and talked to. Also, Ruby is still a prodigy, she taught herself how to read and write, so I mentioned it in there so nobody is confused in later chapters.**

 **So, next chapter will be the final day before the festival, and the beginning of the festival, or possibly including the festival. I really want to get these guys off Patch so I can start the rest of the story and have them meet Blake, among others... you'll see.**

 **Anyway, have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	12. A Small Trip Up North

**Hello everyone, this is the return of the sleep deprived version of J. Van A, and you know what that means. Yes, the plot is actually advancing.**

 **So yeah, it goes a tad bit fast, but seriously, I just want to get to the actual story. I have so much planned: fights, magic, Blake, dwarves, bards, bandits, Ozpin being Ozpin, and a dungeon.**

 **Anyway, we actually get a somewhat White Rose bonding moment in here.**

 **(Sassy) Guest (you came back!) \\(^w^)/… Don't yell at me, but you kind of got Ruby wrong. She is not immature, she's idealistic. If she was immature, she would be acting like a child at inappropriate times, or just… well, I'm sure you know what I mean, immaturity is a kind of general term most people know. Idealistic means she dreams of perfection, like happy endings. Also, in seasons 1 and 2 we didn't get to see Ruby being mature, which is why people mainly think of her as a child. In season 3, we got to see how Ruby is a lot more like an adult, facing hardships and taking action, like noticing when something was wrong with Yang "hallucinating" and Velvet telling her that the same thing happened to Coco, before the Pyrrha/Penny fight, or taking command and taking on Roman and Neo. Also, if she was innocent, she would not being used to fighting people/grimm since killing is killing, be it grimm or person. Idealistic would be meaning that she is willing to fight for the idea of perfection. While being idealistic, she can still be a bit immature, acting like a child some of the time, but she can be very mature for her age. So, the common misconception is that people think Ruby is innocent whereas she is really idealistic. That's what I believe at least, take it how you will, but I'm writing Ruby how I believe she really would be, not what the fandom generalizes her as.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Yang currently was having a pleasant dream of riding on the back of a giant Zwei through an open field. Suddenly she was snapped out of it by jabs at her side. Opening her eyes, Yang saw Weiss standing over her with a disapproving glare.

"Alright, alright, I get it," Yang said trying to stand up rubbing her head due to her throbbing headache. "I'm awake."

"Honestly, you are probably one of the most irresponsible people I've ever met," Weiss said as Yang stood up and stumbled a little bit before correcting her stance. "Do you even know what time it is?"

Yang looked up and squinted as she saw the sun. "About noon," Yang answered back.

Weiss sighed in frustration. "Yes, it is noon, which means you slept till noon after you passed out a few hours after we got back," she explained to her.

"So, you should've joined the party," Yang chuckled before her head started to hurt again. "Then again, you probably aren't one to party. Ruby isn't really one to either."

"Speaking of, where is your sister?" Weiss asked causing Yang's attention to immediately focus. "She didn't come back here last night at all."

"Maybe she went back home," Yang said causing Weiss to shake her head in response.

"No, your father came here a couple hours ago asking if Ruby was here, so it's safe to say she isn't there either," Weiss said sitting on a nearby stool one of the workers had fallen off of and passed out a few hours earlier. "Maybe she stayed at an inn."

"Not probable," Yang said sitting on a nearby stool she was pretty sure she had fallen off of. "Ruby really doesn't like staying in different places by herself. I mean, if anything she's probably…" she trailed off.

"Probably where?" Weiss asked her.

"Probably with her mother," Yang said resting her back of the table behind her. "Ruby does this every so often, so it's not abnormal that she would visit Summer for a day."

"Where does she live?" Weiss asked not knowing she just hit a nerve with the blacksmith apprentice. "I thought she would be living with your father."

"Well, Summer really isn't…" Yang trailed off trying to find the best words. Then she stood up and cracked her back before walking away towards the farm house. "It's probably best if you see for yourself. I'm pretty sure you're not busy. Just meet me here in an hour and we'll go."

"Where are we going? I thought Patch was just a small island with only one town on it," Weiss said standing up and following the blonde.

"Patch does have just one town on it, but Summer was always fond of the view over the northern cliffs," Yang said then disappeared into the house.

* * *

"Qrow, I am seriously not in the mood," Taiyang shouted into the building as soon as he heard the door open and slam shut despite the contraption he made to prevent the door from slamming. "And you owe me a lot for that sword you took."

"Well, take it out from my profits," Qrow said walking past the shop and into the building. He walked further into the building and saw Taiyang sitting at a nearby table with a series of fabrics in front of him.

"What are you talking about?" Taiyang asked him looking from the fabrics.

"Tai, I'm putting you in charge of the farm while I'm gone," Qrow simply said causing the man to just stare at him showing no expression. "Tai, the mission Ozpin is sending me on may last longer than winter. So, while I'm gone I need you to take care of the farm, and with you being in charge you control the profits making you most likely very rich in addition to your blacksmithing. The workers take care of most of the work, but you'd need to spend minimal time there to earn gold. So, what do you say?"

"Fine," Taiyang responded returning his attention back to the fabrics on the table. "I'll take care of your farm till you come back. I also think that wasn't the only reason you came here."

"It's about Ruby," Qrow said sitting down at the table across from Taiyang. "She really wants to leave with Yang and the princess. I personally think she should go, but I heard that you told her no."

"Yes, I did," Taiyang responded not even looking at Qrow who was starting to get agitated.

"Why? Tai, you know she would do a lot better in the world out there than on a small island," Qrow said nearly shouting at the blacksmith.

"I know, Qrow," Taiyang said grabbing the end of a piece of fabric and pulled it up to show the knight. "She said something to me that changed my mind. Something her mother always said."

* * *

"So, how much further till we get to Ruby's mother?" Weiss asked Yang as they trotted down a worn down trail on horseback.

"Well, it would normally take us an hour, but with increased grimm activity, we need to make as little noise as possible," Yang explained keeping her voice low. "This trail has been attacked numerous times, only to be stopped by the person travelling it."

"What?" Weiss asked looking around the trail. In the forest, scattered about were several cut marks into the trunks of the trees all down the trail. Some were new having sap just oozing out, but other marks were old scaring the tree. "Are all of these Ruby's?"

"Most of them," Yang said looking at the marks. "Some were from Summer, others from dad, but most of them are from Ruby."

"Jeez," Weiss said as they entered a clearing. In front of them, the clearing seemed normal, except for several large cuts into the ground scattered about the clearing. She was really glad that she remembered her rapier. Her left hand tightened its grip on the handle as the two made their way over to the path on the other side of the clearing.

"We're almost there," Yang said after they trotted down the path for a few minutes. Then they came across a small camp that consisted of a tent, smouldering campfire, and a post that Chestnut was currently tied to. "Leave your horse here and go ahead."

"Are you coming along?" Weiss asked her as the two dismounted their horses.

"No," Yang said looking away from the princess. "I haven't talked to Summer in years. It just doesn't feel right for me to. Maybe I can talk to her some day, after I take care of some business, but until then, I'm just fine doing what I'm doing."

"Then why are you letting me go?"

"Something tells me this is something you need too," Yang said sitting down on a log next to the camp fire and tossed a few pieces of wood in.

Weiss was confused as she continued down the narrow path towards the cliff. She could feel the wind picking up slightly and heard the waves crashing on the cliffs. Then she walked out of the forest and was blinded by the sudden bright light.

In front of her was not what she expected. She expected to see a small cottage or some other building. What she saw was a stone slab at the end of the cliff. In front of the stone slab was Ruby sitting there with her hood up having her cloak flow in the wind having Crescent Rose laying by her side.

It all instantly clicked in Weiss's head. She walked over to Ruby's side not saying a word. Then she sat down next to the farm hand and pulled her into a hug. Ruby just continued to stare at the stone slab with Summer's name on it barely even acknowledging Weiss's presence.

A few minutes passed as the two sat in silence, but then Ruby broke the silence. "Why are you here?"

"You disappeared, and I was worried," Weiss told her. "Yang said you would probably be here, so we had to check. Why didn't you tell me any of this?"

"Why do you care?" Ruby asked her. "You only showed up a week ago, and now you're leaving with Yang."

"Well, I guess I would have to say that, despite the short time I've known you, I consider you a friend," Weiss said causing Ruby to look over at her.

"My mother was an amazing woman," Ruby said looking back at the stone. "She was a great mother, a good schoolteacher," she chuckled, "and a skilled cookie baker. My dad always told me that my mom was always a schoolteacher, but I knew differently. When I was younger, my mother told me that she was one of the Elite Knights of Vale, known as the Rose's Thorn. She always told me stories of her adventures when she was trying to get me to fall asleep, but it usually ended with me getting her to tell me even more stories. But then she went on a mission and never came back home. Weiss, have you ever had someone special to you suddenly leave you?"

"Well, not exactly, but I know what you are saying. My mother, she was an amazing person too," Weiss said catching Ruby's attention. "My father is a very important person back in Atlas, so he never really was around. My sister was always by my father's side, learning to be just like him, so I hardly ever saw her too. My mother was the one person I always spent time with. She taught me to read and write. She also was there for me for anything, like whenever I had a nightmare, she would come into my room and calm me down usually ending with her spending the night in my room. I loved my mother with all of my heart, but then…"

"Weiss, what happened?" Ruby asked noticing the tears starting to form in Weiss's eyes.

"She died," Weiss said letting her tears fall. "She was murdered by a horned man named Adam, and I watched as he did it. I barely even managed to escape before that man and his group of assassins attacked our home." Ruby was suddenly shocked as she watched Weiss let go of her and wipe away her tears. "I couldn't go back home, and I couldn't go to where my dad was since Adam was trying to kill him by going through us. So I decided that I was going to kill Adam and save my family."

"Weiss, is that why-"

"Yes, I needed to get your father to make me a sword in order to kill the man who killed my mother," Weiss answered. "I never meant to stay this long. I never meant to drag your sister into this mess, or even you for that matter. Why did you even bother to help me in the first place?"

Ruby paused and thought for a few moments. "Something my mother always said, 'Whenever you find someone in trouble, helping them out just seems like the right thing to do,'" she said smiling at Weiss who looked at her with tears still falling down her face. "Weiss, I'm going to help you save your family."

* * *

"Tai, what are you even doing?" Qrow asked walking over to his brother-in-law who was currently in the forge working on something having his back facing Qrow.

"Well, Qrow, you can't expect me to send Ruby out into the world unprotected," Taiyang said focusing on his work. "It also occurred to me that the Schnee probably needed some additional pieces for her order, just in case. So, I'm making her a dagger and a small shield."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Qrow asked him sitting on one of the wooden chairs in the forge.

"Qrow, additional defense is never a bad thing," Taiyang said hammering the piece of metal he was working on. "Though, I guess you never understood that since you've always been more of a speed fighter."

"If you can dispatch an opponent before they have a chance to attack, what's the point of heavy armor," Qrow reasoned with the blacksmith. "Look at the shadow warriors from Vacuo. They wear no armor, and can easily take down a whole squad of highly trained knights."

"That's because they are trained that way. They also learn how to find weaknesses in armor to hit the vital points," Taiyang said dipping the hot metal into the nearby water trough. "A good set of armor has little to no weak points."

"According to the man who took an arrow to the knee," Qrow chuckled.

"The joints need less armor for flexibility," Taiyang defended himself. "Anyway, the wound wasn't that deep, my leg healed just fine."

"Except for a slight limp every now and then."

"Well, not everyone can be an Elite Knight," Taiyang said pulling a red hot blade from the forge and started working on it. "Anyway, Qrow, I need you to do me a favor."

* * *

After leaving the cliffs, the three girls each got on their horses and made their way to town. They had been on the path for nearly an hour, and each were silent avoiding each other's gaze. At least until a certain blonde broke the silence.

"Jeez! This is so freaking boring!" Yang said throwing her hands in the air in frustration as she slumped back on Bumblebee's saddle causing the horse to move faster town the trail. "Can someone say something? Like the weather or something?"

"It's getting a bit chilly," Ruby said in a monotone voice.

"Yes, winter is coming," Weiss said in an equally dull voice.

"You guys are boring," Yang pouted as Bumblebee started trotting circles around the two. "So, Ruby, what are you going to tell dad?"

"I'm leaving," Ruby answered, "I know he's probably going to say no, but I'll run away if I have to."

"I'm sure I can probably talk to him," Yang said as Bumblebee stopped making circles around the two and walked the same speed as Chestnut. Bumblebee then let out a small whine causing Chestnut to huff and swing its head at the other horse tapping it on the nose. "Hey, Chestnut's hurting Bee."

"She probably deserved it," Ruby said having Chestnut speed up. "If Bumblebee is anything like her rider, then she deserved to get hit for every horrible joke."

"She hates me," Yang mumbled dropping her head as a dark cloud formed around her.

"Well, look on the bright side," Weiss said riding up to Yang. "If we're ever caught by a group of bandits, you can tell your horrible puns and they'll kill you quickly." Weiss then chuckled as Snowflake followed Ruby.

Neither of the two noticed how the blonde seemed to slump down on the saddle and leaned on the horse's neck creating a storm cloud above herself.

* * *

"Dad, we're back," Yang announced as the three girls walked into the blacksmith shop. "We found Ruby at Summer's place." There was no response. "Dad?"

"Back here," Taiyang said from the forge area

"So, do you want to talk with him alone, or should we come with?" Yang asked Ruby as she was was fidgeting with her red cloak.

Ruby sighed. "I'll talk to him alone," she said walking past the two girls.

She then walked further into the building and stopped at the door before the forge. After a quick deep breath, she walked outside.

"Dad, I know you are probably going to get mad and tell me no, but please listen," Ruby began not looking at Taiyang had his back turned to her. "I want to go with Yang and Weiss. They are going to be going into danger, I know, but I just can't leave them to possibly be hurt. Yang is my sister and Weiss is my friend. I can take care of myself, probably better than most people. So, I want to go."

"Is that all?" Taiyang asked after Ruby was done talking. She was confused for a second as he stood up revealing a set of red and black armor on the table he was working on.

"Dad, what's that?" she asked looking at the armor.

"Well, it's yours," he said confusing her further.

"What?"

"Ruby, I can't let my daughter leave home unprotected," he said causing her expression to brighten up.

"Dad!" Ruby exclaimed as she bolted at the man and jumped into a hug nearly knocking him off his feet. "But, I thought you said you weren't going to let me leave."

"Ruby," he chuckled, "I know I can't keep you here. You are so much like your mother, and I can't let your potential be wasted here. So, after what you said to me yesterday, I realized that you were leaving either way."

"And to think I was worried," Yang said walking into the forge area. "So, I guess we need to pick up some more supplies for the trip."

Taiyang reached into his pocket and pulled out a small sac of silver coins. "Here you go kid, I'm sure you didn't bring any coins with you," he said handing the pouch to Ruby who took it.

"Dad, the one who forgets their money is Yang," Ruby said putting the gold in her belt next to her coin pouch. "I'm not going to complain though."

"Fine," he said chuckling, "hurry up. The shops are going to be closing soon."

"Thanks dad," Ruby said hugging Taiyang and kissed his cheek before letting go and running with Yang to the street.

"She's pretty happy," Qrow said walking into the forge area from the basement. "So, Tai, when did you even find the time to make that suit of armor? It's a pretty high quality."

"Well, the armor was already built, I just needed to make a few adjustments" Taiyang said resting his hand on the armor. "She may be just like her mother, but she is a bit smaller."

* * *

 **So yeah, Taiyang made Rub a suit of armor from Summer's old set. Why? Because story, that's why. Also the lack of time before the team leaves Patch.**

 **I am just going to have one more chapter being the festival, and a bit of interaction between Ruby and Qrow.**

 **I really hope you guys are liking this story. I'm actually trying to make this a decent story, but it will take a while for the plot to actually make sense. I could make the story really short, but I would end up hating myself for how ridiculous it is and how many plot holes exist.**

 **Reviews are appreciated. I will respond to them if you guys ask questions or just bring up a valid point like Sassy Guest does.**

 **Anyway, I'm going to go to bed soon.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	13. The Festival

**Hello everyone, this is the sleep deprived sick author you all know well.**

 **So, this chapter goes a bit fast, but I do get the point across while making some jokes. I honestly wanted to do more with the festival, but I actually want to have the story continue more.**

 **So there isn't much left to say.**

 **(Sassy) Guest: Ok, so basically what you're saying is that we agree on Ruby's personality. I'm not going to say that I'm the best at analyzing characters, but I have a pretty good idea on their personalities. Though I may end up making the characters a bit off from their show personalities, but that's simply because this is a fanfic, and it helps me write the way I want to write. I am going to make several other changes, but those'll be slight, like Ruby being able to use a knife, or Weiss having a shield, but that's because since aura doesn't exist she'll need some protection.**

 **KibaPT: Oh yeah, the horses are definitely a lot like their owners.**

 **Foxy Foxation: Taiyang said that he had to make some altercations to the armor. Plus the paint job did make a difference. JNPR will be appearing in the story in a couple chapters, I did hint at one of the four in the last chapter. Depending on how they are in this story I may do a series of omakes in this story or just make a completely different story. I also fixed the knwo because my stupid fingers randomly would switch the last two letters of words when I'm typing fast and I've been trying to catch myself.**

 **(Sword) Guest: Well yeah, I'm not giving Weiss a tower shield. Jaune's knight shield fits with his fighting style with his longsword, or Pyrrha's spartan shield and sword/javelin. I know a bit about weapons, which is kind of essential if you're writing a fanfic about a series that the weapons have a huge role in. You'll see Weiss's shield in the next chapter.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

After picking up supplies for their journey, the three girls decided to spend the night at Qrow's house with Zwei. That being said, when the owner returned to his house, he was kicked out, which made an interesting late night trip to the Xiao Long household. The night began with the three of them planning out what they were going to for the coming trip, but it ended with Weiss playing with the corgi and the sisters rough housing.

In the morning Weiss came to an interesting sight. The sisters were in the kitchen acting like all was normal, except for their attire. Ruby was wearing a long red dress that seemed to have white sleeves, and Yang was wearing a long yellow dress with white sleeves similar to Ruby's.

"Why are you two wearing those?" Weiss asked with a yawn as she walked into the kitchen.

"Today's the harvest festival," Ruby said spinning around a little to show off her dress. "These are our party dresses. We wear them every year, well, when they aren't accidentally set on fire."

"Heh heh," Yang said scratching the back of her head. "Also, the men of the town do most of the work when setting up the grounds and all the booths, so we don't have to do anything, even though someone tries to help out with anything she's asked."

"There are also several different contests that typically go on, that somebody always enters, no matter how drunk she is," Ruby said chuckling as she sat next to Yang with a cheerful smile on her face.

"That's a low blow and you know it," Yang said as her facial expression sharpened into a glare at the girl who was still looking cheerful.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Ruby said sipping her drink.

"Ok, so it's a festival," Weiss said then mumbled, "and I don't have a good enough dress."

"So, Weiss," Yang said breaking her stare down to look at the princess, "What are festivals like in Atlas?"

That caused Weiss to pause. She had been to the Spring festival several times back in Atlas, but those times she had just been in the parade. Never once had she been amongst the people actually enjoying the festivities. It had always been leave the castle, go on the parade, then back to the castle.

"The parade is the thing I remember the most," Weiss said quickly after the sisters were starting to have questionable looks. "The King and his family would be at the front of the parade making their appearance. My father though, would make me go home early since he didn't trust the people at the festival."

"That's a shame," Ruby said as she picked up Zwei and set him on her lap. "I heard that the music there is amazing, and the games are really fun."

"I also heard that Atlesian Ale is the best," Yang said taking a drink from her mug.

"Well, that's also a thing," Weiss said looking off to the side. "Though, you can buy Atlesian Ale pretty much anywhere. My father's trade company supplies most of Remnant." As soon as she finished, Weiss realized she had messed up.

"So, your father owns a merchant company?" Ruby asked her as her attention was drawn away from the corgi.

"Uhh, yeah," Weiss answered looking off to the side. While her father did own a merchant company, he did own several others, like the dust trade or a farming operation in southern Atlas. He also collects a tax due to being the King, but he adds that to a different treasury and only uses it for the kingdom since he has his own personal form of income.

"And here I thought you were going to stay mysterious," Yang said finishing her drink. "Are you going to tell us your last name now?"

"Don't get your hopes up," Weiss said to them as she headed back to the guest room. "Remember that we leave first thing tomorrow morning. Now then, I guess we can head to town and see if anyone needs help setting up."

"Did you not listen to a word I said?" Yang complained as Ruby perked up.

"I did listen, but I decided that it was irrelevant," Weiss said from the room as she found her clothes she arrived to Patch in and began putting them on. "Also, I suggest that we bring our supplies with us so we avoid an unnecessary trip back. I will pay for a room at the inn."

"Or we could spend the night at the shop," Ruby suggested. "That place is dad's second house anyway."

"Alright then," Yang said standing up then walked toward the door, "Ruby, go saddle up the horses. I'll bring the supplies over."

* * *

"I'm surprised you're still wearing that cloak," Ruby said to Weiss as the three of them were travelling down the dirt road nearing the town.

Weiss looked at her black cloak. She bought the cloak on her third day on her own so that people wouldn't recognize her. It had worked for the most part, but she did receive several strange glances when the wind blew down her hood. After she left Atlas, hardly anyone had seemed to know what she had looked like, so when her hood was down, people didn't even spare a second glance.

"I could say the same to you," Weiss remarked after she noticed Ruby was still wearing her red cloak.

"She's been wearing those kinds of cloaks ever since she was little," Yang answered for her. "Not a day goes by that she doesn't wear one."

"Well, it fits me," Ruby said directing Chestnut towards the town stables.

After the three of them put their horses into their stables, they each grabbed their supplies and made their way into town. They stored their supplies and weapons at Taiyang's blacksmith shop, and then made their way down to the fairgrounds.

Ruby immediately ran off to help set up some food stands. Yang went off on her own somewhere. Weiss simply wandered looking for something to do.

It was only after a while that she realized Zwei was still following her. After picking up the corgi, she found a nearby stick and found an open area in the fairgrounds.

* * *

"A great help as always, Ruby," the man currently setting up the stand said as Ruby was helping put up banners on the stands. "This would go a lot faster if your sister would help out. I'm sure she could just move this whole stand."

"Well, you know how she is, Dave," Ruby said as she finished putting up the banners. "Also, I won't be able to help take these down tomorrow like I usually do."

"Really?" Dave asked looking at the farm hand. "You help every year."

"Well, I'm going to be leaving Patch," Ruby said causing Dave to nearly drop his hammer. "Yang's leaving too so she can finish her apprenticeship. We're leaving with Weiss, the person who came to the island a week ago."

"Weiss, why is that name familiar?" Dave asked himself then turned to Ruby. "Well then, I'll talk with the other stand owners. We'll have you guys not pay for anything tonight as saying thanks."

"You really don't have to," Ruby said walking over helping Dave set up the stand.

"Trust me, after all the things you two girls do for the town, this is the least we can do."

* * *

An hour after the festivities began, Weiss and Zwei made their way onto the grounds. Weiss seemed to be uncomfortable being surrounded by all the people being all merry. She had to stop several children from dragging her off to play games, and then she nearly had to run from a group of people who had drank a bit too much ale and tried to bring her into the dancing.

Zwei seemed happy to be there, but that was mostly due to him being a corgi. The children walking by gave him bits of meat and pet his head, and the adults gave him a decent rub down while he licked their faces.

After a while of wandering, Weiss found a decently quiet area where people were sitting down in an area to talk with a single band consisting of a mandolin, flute, and drum. So she found a chair near the edge and sat down. The corgi then walked over and plopped down on the floor.

"You're really enjoying yourself," Weiss told the dog earning a quick bark as he rolled onto his back looking up at the princess with his tongue hanging out. "I would ask you if you want something to eat, but you kind of had a decent meal." The corgi closed his mouth and looked up at her. Then he rolled back onto his feet and looked up at Weiss doing his best puppy eyed look. "You can't fool me, little dog. I've seen you eat your own body weight in meats. There is no way you could possibly still be-" she was suddenly interrupted by the sounds of low guttural growling that caused her to jump a little. She looked over to the corgi which was still doing a puppy eyed look giving no indication that he was growling. "Was that your stomach?" The dog let out a confirmatory bark. "Alright fine, I'll get you something."

* * *

"How did you even eat that steak?" Weiss asked in astonishment as she stared at the dog that was lying its back with his tongue hanging out. "It was as big as you."

Zwei just laid there content not even answering the princess. Then he lciked his lips and closed his eyes to calmly listen to the music that was being played. After a short while of listening to the music, Zwei perked up and rolled over to look at the princess.

"What do you want?" she asked Zwei as he started walking away from the area. "Ok, where are you going?" she asked him as she started to follow the corgi.

After walking for a few minutes, the two made it to the edge of the forest. Weiss looked at the dog skeptically for a second before he started walking into the woods.

"Zwei, I really don't think you want to be going into the woods at nig-" Weiss said but stopped when she saw a circle of torches further ahead.

Approaching the torches, Weiss saw a group of people next to the torches making a circle around two people. Of the two people, Weiss saw a man and a woman currently engaged in a fist fight. The man was a tall muscular man with brown hair who wasn't wearing a shirt. The woman was tall with long blonde hair who also wasn't wearing a shirt, but did have bandages covering her chest to avoid showing off too much skin. After looking closely Weiss immediately recognized the woman as Yang.

"Why is she here?" Weiss asked Zwei as the corgi looked up at her, then to Yang, then back to Weiss. "So, is this what she meant by 'fight club' on the first day we met?" Zwei simply barked in confirmation. "Yeah, let's go before we get dragged into anything unnecessary."

* * *

After Weiss and Zwei left the forest and returned to the festival, they both wandered around the grounds until Zwei started walking towards a large group of people. Upon getting close to the group, Weiss's suspicions were confirmed as she saw Ruby dancing in a circle with a group of people. As Ruby caught sight of Weiss, she broke off from the circle and approached the princess.

"Weiss, where have you been?" Ruby asked her as she walked over. "I've been looking for you for a while now?"

"Sure looked like it," Weiss remarked. "I was with Zwei for a while. That dog can eat."

"Yeah, that's always been a mystery," Ruby said then smiled and took Weiss's hand.

"Ruby, what are you doing?" Weiss asked her as she was suddenly getting pulled into the crowd.

"Come on, Weiss. This is the best part of a festival," Ruby said pulling Weiss into the crowd suddenly coming up to resistance from the princess.

"Ruby, no, I've never danced, at least not in public," Weiss said trying to get out of Ruby's grip to no avail.

"Weiss, it'll be fun. Even Zwei is having fun," Ruby said causing Weiss to look to the circle of people. In the center of the circle was said dog standing on his hind legs hopping around in circles. The people surrounding the circle started to laugh and clap at the dog's antics.

"Ruby, I seriously don't think this is a good- RUBY!" Weiss exclaimed as she was suddenly pulled out of the crowd into the circle.

* * *

 **Alright, short and to the point. The next chapter we will finally get into the actually story.**

 **I had wanted to make a grimm encounter at the end of the chapter, but I didn't have time. Basically how it was going to go was Weiss would see a grimm, then she would tell Zwei to get Ruby while she distracted it with a branch. Zwei would run off and return later with Weiss's rapier giving Weiss her first opportunity for a kill with her weapon.**

 **So, I wrote the majority of this while watching a movie called Stardust. When I first saw it, it seemed like a strange movie I wouldn't like, but it actually is very good. I would kind of compare to The Princess Bride, so if you like that movie, Stardust might interest you, and also they're both on Netflix of you guys have it.**

 **Anyway, I'm a bit excited for the next chapter. We finally get to the actual story.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	14. WE FINALLY GET OFF THE ISLAND!

**Hello everyone, this is the beaten battered writer J. Van A. The reason why I'm beaten is due to my recent addiction to Dark Souls II. Over 40+ hours in game, and that's nothing compared to my dark souls game, over 140+ hours spent in game, all not playing online so I can't summon help from people. If I owned a next gen console, I would be playing Dark Souls III.**

 **Jeez, I hate dying in that game. Not because dying and losing your souls sucks, but because when you die, your max health goes down so you need to restore your humanity every five deaths. In the first Dark Souls you could just jump off the Firelink Shrine cliff over and over without any repercussions.**

 **Anyway, we finally get off of Patch. Near the end. We stay on patch for a lot of this chapter, but it's not time wasted. Weiss gets some stuff. Ruby gets some stuff. Qrow does a thing.**

 **GmDrgnzrd: Thanks. Your username has no vowels. I spent five minutes trying to figure out how your name would be pronounced. Not the best use of my time, but entertaining.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Weiss, wake up," Ruby said knocking on her door. "You said we should leave as early as possible in the morning."

"Ruby, it's your fault that I'm so tired," Weiss muttered from the other side of the door. "You dragged me out and made me dance for nearly an hour."

"For the record, I didn't make you stay after the first dance," Ruby said then turned away from the door. "Also, dad had something he wanted to give you. So come out as soon as you can."

"Fine," Weiss said opening the door and began walking out. "Get your supplies ready and meet me outside. We're leaving as soon as we're ready." At that Weiss made her way over to the forge area. As she passed by the kitchen she saw Yang sleeping on a chair with a black eye that was very prominent. "Ok then."

She walked out of the building and saw Taiyang working on a new sword in the forge. Then she sat down on the chair and waited for the blacksmith to finish. After a minute Taiyang placed the red hot blade in the water trough and turned around.

"So then, you're leaving," Taiyang said to Weiss as he was walking over to a nearby chest.

"Yeah, as soon as we're done here," Weiss said as Taiyang opened the chest and started looking inside.

"Well, it's a good thing you stopped by. You'll probably need these," he said pulling a shield and dagger from the chest. "I take it you're left handed." She nodded. "Then try this on." He tossed her the shield and she started strapping it to her forearm. "That shield is made from the same materials as your sword, so it should never break, and the dagger is the same. You may want to sheathe the dagger inside your boot, there is a sheath built into them."

Weiss looked at the shield. It was a simple white oval shield that covered her forearm and part of her hand, and stretched out a couple inches so it could easily cover her face. At the end of the shield over her wrist the shield had a bent upward allowing for a large range of movement with her hand.

"So, what do you think?" he asked sitting on the table admiring his work.

"This is… amazing. Thank you Mr. Xiao Long," Weiss said looking at the dagger in her hand. "Thank you for everything, I mean it."

"Don't worry about it. You'll need all the help you can get. Could you do me one favor?" he asked then walked back over to the chest and pulled out a red bundle. "I need you to give this to Ruby. I'd do it myself, but I'd probably get a bit too emotional and burst into tears. If you could give this to her on the ship to Vale, it would be the best since she would probably want to run all the way back here and hug me."

"Sure," she said taking the bundle from Taiyang and looked at it. "What is this?"

"That, is a special cloak," he said looking at the red fabric looking bundle in Weiss's hands. "Using a lot of my remaining magic chainmail, I made a multi-layered cloak that should protect her from most types of arrows. It also should weigh the same as her current cloak, so the only real difference would be the protection it provides."

"I think she will like it," Weiss said standing up then walked over to the door back into the shop. "Thank you, again, Mr. Xiao Long. I will make sure your daughters come back in one piece." She then waved to him and walked back into the building.

"Well, what do I do with myself now?" Taiyang asked himself as Zwei trotted over and yipped. "Outstanding idea, Zwei, corgi armor." Zwei looked at Taiyang and tilted his head to the side.

* * *

"Weiss, are you ready?" Ruby asked securing her armor as Weiss came out of the shop. "Yang is getting the horses and she'll be here in a minute."

"Yeah, I'm ready," Weiss said adjusting her own armor making sure it was all in the right spots. She then saw Ruby standing there pondering asking a question. "Your father gave me a shield and a dagger, both very high quality."

"Guys, come on," Yang said riding up to the door on Bumblebee with Chestnut and Snowflake tailing behind. That was the first time Weiss even saw Yang wearing her armor. Yang's yellow armor seemed to consist of a full chestplate, a pauldron, and greaves. Her armor didn't have a skirt like Weiss's and Ruby's, but it did have a brown leather jacket under the armor. "The ship leaving for Vale will be departing soon."

"Right," Weiss said picking up her supplies and securing them onto Snowflake's saddle. then she jumped onto the horse's back. "Come on, let's go," she said turning around to look at the sisters only to see an empty street.

"Weiss, hurry up," Ruby shouted from Chestnut's back as they rode down the street.

* * *

"Alright, the ferry ride will be less than an hour and thirty silver each," the sailor said doing some quick math, "ninety silver total for your group."

"Plus one makes it one gold and twenty silver," a new voice said from behind the group catching everyone's attention. Turning around the girls saw Qrow walking over holding the reins of his black horse. He then walked over to the sailor and handed him a small handful of coins. "Hey Will, I'll pay for these kids."

"Suit yourself, this is your third trip anyway," Will said taking Qrow's money then started walking towards the ship. "Just make sure your horses are below deck when we depart. Last thing we need is to have to stop the ship and bring the horses back in."

"Will do," Qrow said then turned to the girls. "Hey."

"Uncle Qrow, what are you doing here?" Yang asked as the four of them started leading their horses onto the ship. "Don't you have a lot of work to do after the harvest?"

"Normally, yes," he answered her. "However, I need to do an errand for an old friend. Tai said he'd take over the farm till I came back, which may end up being a while. Right, Ruby, Tai asked me to do him a favor, so I'll need to talk with you."

"What is it Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked as they lead the horses into the stables under the deck.

"Just… something you may need," he said turning to Weiss and Yang. "You two don't need to be here."

"Alright, fine," Weiss said scowling a bit as she and Yang closed the stable doors on their horses. Then a couple moments later the two of them went back to the deck.

"So, kid, it's nice to see you going along," Qrow said turning to Ruby. "Before we get to Vale, I just need to show you a few things."

* * *

"Well Yang, we're finally going," Weiss said as both she and Yang sat down on the edge of the deck dangling their feet over the side. "When we get to Vale, we'll need to look for information regarding the White Fang and where their main base is."

"Yeah, you can do that," Yang said causing Weiss to look over at her quizzically. "I'm going to look for information on something else."

"But I thought you said that you would help me?"

"I am, it's just, this is something I need to do," Yang said reaching into a pouch on the belt of her armor to pull out a folded piece of paper. After unfolding the paper Weiss could see a head drawing of a woman that looked a lot like Yang except for her black hair and red eyes. "This is my mother, Raven Branwen. Ruby and I are half-sisters by our father. My mother ran away several years ago before I even knew her, but I always wanted to meet her. When I heard you were going to travel across Remnant, I thought that this was my chance to search for her. I'm sorry if I've deceived you."

"Well, I can't say that I'm mad," Weiss said as Yang folded up the picture and put it back into her pouch. "I'm glad that you told me this ahead of time instead of sneaking off when we landed. Anyway, when we look for information, we can ask more question than just where is the White Fang."

"Thanks, Weiss," Yang said resting her hands on the deck as the sailors began setting sail.

* * *

"Uncle Qrow, I don't really see the point in this," Ruby remarked as she mirrored Qrow's similar attack move. "You already taught me to fight with my scythe enough."

"Ruby, that was for fighting grimm," Qrow remarked then quickly did an uppercut with his scythe that Ruby copied. "This is a set of moves that is effective when fighting people."

"Uncle Qrow, I thought I told you that I didn't want to fight people."

"Ruby, your father wanted me to teach you to protect yourself," Qrow said resting his scythe on the side of the ship. "You told me yourself that the reason you wanted to learn how to fight grimm was that you knew that they didn't share your views on killing. Well, sorry be the bearer of bad news, kid, but there are bad people out there in the world who also don't, and considering where your friend is planning on going, you are definitely going to run into those kinds of people. If you don't learn how to protect yourself, you'll easily be beaten. What I'm showing you could easily be kill attacks, but they also could just maim or injure. Not everything is black and white."

"I understand," Ruby said then mimicked Qrow's previous move.

"And I will never understand how you can learn these things so quickly," Qrow remarked as he watched Ruby do a series of moves perfectly that had taken him years to learn.

* * *

The ship had floated into the city's large sea gate and flowed down the river till the captain found his port. Qrow was the first to leave taking his horse then riding off into the town towards the gates.

"Well that was a somewhat uneventful trip," Yang said as the girls lead their horses out of the ship onto solid ground. "I mean, a whale sighting would've been cool."

"Quit complaining," Weiss said to the blonde. "When I came to Vale, the ship was caught in a storm and we nearly capsized. I still don't fully trust ships."

"Ruby, remember when dad would take us to the city to replenish his materials?" Yang asked then was confused by Ruby's lack of response. "Ruby?" She turned around and saw Ruby removing the heavy pieces of her armor and placing them in Chestnut's saddlebags.

"Give me a second," Ruby said removing her cloak placing it in the saddlebag. She then secured Crescent Rose's shaft to her back. "You didn't have to practice fighting the whole way over. I'm a bit tired."

"Right, before I forget," Weiss said walking to Snowflake's saddlebag and pulled out a red bundle from it and handed it to Ruby. "Your father wanted me to give this to you after we left Patch."

"What is-" Ruby asked as she unfurled the bundle having it fold out to its full length. "A cloak? I already have a cloak."

"Well, he said something about it being made from the magic chainmail and that is was just like a regular cloak except for it having better protection from arrows," Weiss said then Ruby secured the cloak around her shoulders letting it flow in the wind.

"It looks good Ruby," Yang said giving the young girl a thumbs up.

"Right, well, let's find some stables. Then we can search for any information on the White Fang," Weiss said as Ruby started leading Chestnut towards some stables.

"You two can search for information," Ruby said as she paid the stable owner for the three horses and began leading them into the building. "I'm going to go through the marketplace and see if there are any more supplies we can get."

"Alright, be careful, Ruby," Weiss said waving to Ruby as the crimsonette ran out of the stables and disappeared into the crowd of people. She turned to Yang who was adjusting her chestplate trying to make it more comfortable. "Yang, to the tavern."

"Yay!" Yang exclaimed as she started walking into the town.

"For information."

"Oh."

* * *

 **I just fought against the Demon of Song. Circle strafe and magic crossbow bolts made that boss the easiest boss next to Seath the Scaleless in Dark Souls I for having just a bow and 999 fire arrows and circle strafing. (Feel free to use that tactic. Stay close to the wall and roll.)**

 **Anyway, Ruby is now going to be doing her own thing in Vale's marketplace. What she's going to be doing is maybe going to be more important than Weiss and Yang's thing.**

 **Are we going to meet up with Blake finally? (I really should do a segment for her soon.)**

 **Oh, I'm going to soon bring in things I was talking about two chapters earlier. And a member of JNPR? Maybe?**

 **Reviews are appreciated. I will respond to them if they seem to be able to be responded to.**

 **So then, I'm going to go fight some more undead.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	15. The Bard and The Bar Fight

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A, heavily beaten and bruised, but not from Dark Souls this time. I actually did a lot of physical labor today, yeah I know, bleh, _work._ I've been digging holes all day and now my hands are all tingly and my fingers are numb. Numb fingers also make for interesting typing which means I have to watch the keyboard to make sure I'm pressing the right keys since I can't feel the little nubs on F and J.**

 **So, we get into the city of Vale where Ruby has an interesting encounter, which I swear has a point to it despite nothing really happening. We also get some interesting Weiss and Yang information finding (Yes, there's a part where Weiss does an un-Weiss thing, don't go nuts). Also, Ruby meets some people from Beacon.**

 **It's taking forever to type this because every so often I would hit two keys instead of one. Like typing fight usually ends up figthj, not even kidding.**

 **FoxyFoxation: What? Wait, why? No. No she's not.**

 **KibaPT: I don't get it. Also, I think it would be funny if someone drew Zwei in like Skyrim armor.**

 **(Sword) Guest (I'm guessing, feel free to tell me if I'm wrong): I toyed with the idea of making Weiss's shield a sheath for her dagger, but if she has to use it in a fight, it would make little sense to have it where she can't reach it on her non-dominant hand.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: I'm guessing its Green Dragonzord from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. If so, I wasn't much of a fan of that, but Power Rangers Mystic Force was my favorite.**

 **Enjoy,**

* * *

After leaving Weiss and Yang, Ruby ran into the town being careful that Crescent Rose's blade didn't cut anyone's legs since it was protruding from her cloak. She found the area that seemed to be the marketplace due to the large number of people around. As she entered the area Ruby felt a small chill run down her back as she thought someone was watching her.

She looked around briefly trying to find the source of her unsettledness only to see nothing. After shrugging the feeling away, she started looking at the different stands. She walked past most of the clothing stands ignoring the owners' attempts to get her attention with a dress or a necklace. She then stopped at a weapon's stand and approached the lines of daggers.

"I see you have a good eye, my lady," the owner of the stand said walking toward Ruby. "These are Vacuoan daggers of the highest quality. Only the best is sold here."

"The best huh," Ruby said lifting up her leg to allow herself to draw her dagger from her boot. "Do you have any as good as this?" Ruby asked showing it to him.

"Where did you get this interesting trinket?" the stand owner asked taking the dagger for a second to examine it before handing it back to Ruby. "I'm guessing you are a farm hand. That's not a high enough paying job to purchase a dagger of this high of quality."

"Well, my father gave it to me," Ruby said inserting the dagger into her boot. "So, would you have a dagger like this one?"

"Unfortunately no," he said looking away from her for a second. "That seems to be the craftsmanship of the legendary blacksmith Taiyang Xiao Long." Ruby scoffed. "My things here can't compare."

"Well then, I will be leaving," Ruby said then turned to walk away.

"Wait, before you go," the stand owner said catching Ruby's attention. "I thought that because of your scythe, you were just a farm hand, but it seems to be a higher quality. Probably capable of fighting grimm."

"Well, I am pretty good at fighting grimm," Ruby said bashfully.

"Are you an adventurer by any chance?" he asked causing Ruby to raise an eyebrow. "You don't know what an adventurer is?"

"I know what an adventurer is, but why would you think I was one?"

"You don't appear to be a knight, and adventurers are people who have great fighting skills, but never went to the training to be a knight," he explained. "There actually is a guild dedicated to adventurers. It's actually sponsored by the four kingdoms after the leader of Vale brought up the idea. So each capital city has a guild hall with several smaller buildings across the world. If you aren't an adventurer, you should consider it, especially if you're going to be travelling."

"And where is this building located."

"It's more up the river, near the lake. You actually can't miss it. It's the large building next to the Church of Oum. Just follow the bells."

"Thanks for the advice," Ruby said then waved to him and left.

* * *

"Alright, Yang," Weiss told her as they stood outside the tavern with a bear head painted on the sign outside the door. "Remember, we are here for information, not to go drinking, or start a fight. So, take off the gauntlets."

"But Weiss, they complete the look," Yang complained holding up her hands to show off the golden gauntlets.

"And you have spikes on the knuckles that can easily tear through skin," Weiss said holding up an open sack. "Put them in here now, and you get them back when we leave."

"Fine," Yang huffed removing her gauntlets from her hands and placed them inside the sack. "Can we at least get some food? I'm starving and we didn't get to eat before we left Patch."

"If it will quiet you up, I will pay for your meal," Weiss said as they entered the tavern.

Inside the building was a large multi storey building with a bar and tables on the ground floor with a dining area on the second floor. The workers were easily distinguishable due to their similar dress of black clothing. Near the fireplace on one side of the building was a small band that seemed to play good enough music to entertain the patrons.

Weiss and Yang walked through the building catching everyone's attention due to the two heavily armored woman entering the building without saying anything. They both walked over to the bar and sat down near where a slightly better dressed man was standing.

"So, what business do two knights have with me?" he asked placing a tankard in front of each of the girls exciting Yang.

"Well, we aren't really knights," Weiss said then looked at Yang for a second and realized from a third party they did look like two knights, "but whatever. We need some information."

"Information? Well you came to the right place," the man said resting one elbow on the table. "Name's Junior. What do you need to know?"

"White Fang, where is their main base?" Weiss asked causing Junior to freeze.

"Why would you want to know that?" he sputtered out. "The White Fang will murder any human that goes near. It's considered suicide and the knights don't even go after them."

"Well, we have business with them," Weiss said as Yang took her tankard and began drinking after finishing her own.

"Even the most trained knights won't go there," he said drawing some attention from nearby patrons. "Actually, not even Elite Knights will go there, and Vale's pretty much out of those. You may be trained, but you probably aren't skilled enough to take on a small army by yourselves."

"Ha! A lady knight," one of the drunk patrons said closeby.

"Shut up, Kevin," Junior said to him.

"No. Women should not even try to be knights," Kevin said then took a swig of his ale. "Being a knight is a man's job, with all the killing and whatnot. No woman would be able to stand the carnage."

"Kevin, seriously, shut up."

"Weiss, can I hit him?" Yang asked placing her tankard back onto the bar.

"Yang, I said no bar fights," she replied as she looked at Kevin who was about to say something else. "Actually, you aren't wearing your gauntlets, so… don't kill him."

"Fine," Yang said hopping off her stool cracking her knuckles and walking towards Kevin.

"So, do you know where the White Fang is?" Weiss asked Junior ignoring Yang as she punched Kevin in the face throwing the man off his stool.

"I'm not going to reveal that information," he said causing Weiss to scowl.

"I'm not leaving till I get that information," Weiss said then Junior sighed.

"Then I guess you'll just be forced to go," Junior said then signalled to his men in the bar to approach the two girls.

"Yang, remember what I said about starting a bar fight?"

"Yeah," Yang said looking at the group of men surrounding them.

"Well, just forget what I said," Weiss said causing Yang to chuckle maliciously.

* * *

As Ruby walked down the side of the river, she noticed the giant lake. Surrounding the lake was a large number of buildings. And at the end of the lake was a large cliff with a castle on it, which Ruby guessed was Fort Beacon.

After she saw a large building next to a church, Ruby walked towards it. To her right Ruby passed a tavern just as a blond man was thrown through the door out onto the street. A couple seconds after the man crashed into the ground, a group of four other men in armor walked out.

The apparent leader was a tall muscular guy with orange hair who held a mace. Next to him was a man in thick leather armor with light green hair in a mohawk and had two daggers on his belt. Behind both of them was a man with brown hair who had a simple sword. Then in the doorway was a man with long dark blue hair with a halberd on his back.

"Get out of here you useless bard," the leader said tossing a sack Ruby had guessed belonged to the bard at him. Then the leader walked over to the bard and kicked his ribs. "The deal when you first joined our group was to make songs about our impressive feats, yet you still don't have anything."

"Well maybe you're just a lousy source of inspiration," the bard said earning him another kick from the leader of the team. "Come on, Cardin. How am I supposed to write a song about your team's missions? 'The four heroes who went into town, killed the grimm, then ate the tavern's food for a week without paying' or 'The four heroes who were beaten by a pissed off bull with a broken horn.' Yeah, really great stories there."

"Shut up!" Cardin yelled at him going in for another kick, but just before his foot could hit the bard Ruby's scythe stabbed into the ground between them causing Cardin to kick the dull end of the blade. "What now?!"

"Leave him alone," Ruby shouted at them pulling her scythe from the ground as she walked between the bard and Cardin. "You've made your point, and you've beaten him enough. Just walk away."

"Don't think you can tell me what to do, wench," Cardin snarled as he picked his mace from his belt and went for an uppercut.

Ruby dodged it at the last second and spun her scythe around hitting his wrist with the back and of the blade knocking the mace out of his hands. Cardin then tried to punch her, so she ducked under the swing and thrusted her scythe forward hitting him in the chest throwing him back.

The next guy drew his daggers and swung at Ruby hitting her side. She looked worried for a second as she looked at her side not seeing any blood, then she remembered the chainmail suit she was wearing was supposed to protect better than normal chainmail. Ruby then dodged the man's next attack with his daggers, then hit him in the forehead with the back end of the shaft of her scythe. After he was dazed, Ruby went for an uppercut hitting his chin with the back end of the scythe's blade knocking him out.

The swordsman was behind Ruby and he went for a quick strike while her back was turned. As Ruby caught sight of his attack, she quickly pulled up her right leg drawing her dagger just in time to block the attack. She then redirected his sword while she spun around hitting him in the ribs with the back end of her scythe throwing him off to the side.

The final guy attempted to go for a downward strike aimed at her head, so Ruby turned her scythe around at swung at the halberd. The blade of her scythe hooked onto the halberd's blade and ripped it from his hands throwing it into the air. After letting her dagger fall onto the ground, Ruby caught the halberd in her right hand and stood there with both weapons ready to attack.

"You bitch!" Cardin shouted from behind her as he charged at Ruby with his mace in both his hands. Before he could attack Ruby, the bard from earlier tackled him throwing them both to the ground.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" the bard shouted as he punched Cardin in the face. "You consider yourself a knight, yet you don't abide by any code of chivalry." Another punch. "You attack a lady after she protected someone." Another punch. "You don't even deserve to a song!" the bard shouted then punched Cardin in the face one last time then stood up over him. His knuckles had been ripped open and were already bleeding after punching Cardin's face.

"You know, Arc," Cardin said standing back up. "Your punches are still so weak. Come on guys, we have training back at Beacon later today." Ruby tossed the halberd back to its original owner and a minute later they already had left the street.

"Thanks a lot," the bard said as he sat down on the side of the building holding his ribs. "My name's Jaune Arc, the travelling bard."

"Yeah, I gathered that," Ruby said sitting down next to him setting her scythe on the ground. "My name is Ruby Rose. So what was with all that?"

"Well, uhh, ha," Jaune said scratching the back of his head, "I kind of agreed to be that group's bard to try and make an epic tale about them in song, but after a while of not making one they kind of lost their patience."

"But why?"

"Well, I'm a bard, have you ever heard of me?" he asked causing the girl to shake her head, "Exactly. Being a bard can really be a cutthroat profession where if you don't make good entertaining songs, you'll easily be replaced. Most bards try to expand their music so that they gain fame, and fame means money. The easiest way to gain fame is to make a ballad of valiant heroes, which is beneficial for both groups involved, but if the 'heroes' don't really inspire the bard, a song doesn't get made. You didn't know that?" Another shake. "Really? And I thought that there may be songs already about you."

"Wha- why would you think that?" Ruby sputtered out.

"Well, you're a knight, right?" he asked her. "That was experienced fighting where you beat a team of knights who had been training for years at Fort Beacon. Someone with that skill isn't just some kind of normal person."

"Well," Ruby said looking away from Jaune, "I'm kind of just a normal farm hand who learned how to fight grimm. That was kind of my first time fighting people."

"Wait… what?" Jaune asked trying to process what he had just heard. "How?!" Ruby jumped a little in surprise. "I thought you were one of the Elite Knights of Vale. You even got hit with a blade without any armor on and didn't get hurt. Nobody except the Elite Knights have been known to do that."

"Well, special chainmail that looks like cloth," Ruby explained drawing her dagger from her boot and applied pressure to it as she dragged it across her abdomen. "My father made this armor."

"And who is your father, the legendary blacksmith Taiyang Xiao Long?" he asked causing the girl to look away somewhat embarrassed.

"He's not _that_ legendary," Ruby muttered causing Jaune to get shocked.

"Wait- wha- who _are_ you?"

* * *

"Weiss, you could help out a little," Yang said to the princess as she dodged a swung directed at her and delivered an uppercut to the man's jaw.

"Yang, you are the brawler, not me," Weiss said not even looking away from Junior as he was pressing himself against the giant barrels of ale behind him.

"Weiss-" Yang said as one of the men punched her cheek throwing her to the side a bit. "Come on."

"Fine," Weiss said drawing her dagger from her boot. One of the men was thrown onto the bar next to her, so Weiss took her chance. She quickly stabbed the dagger down onto his hand pinning it to the bar a little bit causing the man to shout in pain. Weiss then grabbed the empty metal tankard next to her and used the bottom to hammer the dagger down further. "Happy?"

Before the man could punch Weiss, Yang quickly punched him in the face knocking him out. "Peachy." The man fell down on to the ground having his hand still being pinned to the bar.

"Alright, I get it," Junior shouted causing all of the people to stop fighting. "Everyone, back to work. You two," he turned to Weiss and Yang, "sit down and I'll tell you what you want to know, then you have to go."

"That's all we wanted to begin with," Weiss said grabbing her dagger by the hilt and tried pulling it out to no avail. "Yang, would you please?"

Yang simply reached over and pulled the dagger out of the bar in one quick movement. She wiped the blood off on the man's sleeve then handed it to Weiss who sheathed it back in her boot.

" _Crazy psycho ladies,"_ Junior muttered as he poured himself a drink. "Ok, so you want to know where the White Fang is?" Both the girls nodded. "Well, my information is old, but the last I heard, the White Fang had been located in the ruins of an ancient castle to the north. They stayed there because rational people avoid the dangerous dungeon located under the castle. They may have moved away from there, but if you look around you may find clues on where they may be. Now, can you please leave?" At that Weiss stood up and headed toward the door just as a black cloaked figure left the building. "What are you still doing here?" Junior asked Yang as the blonde reached into a pouch on her belt.

"I was hoping you could help me find someone," Yang said pulling out the drawing of her mother and unfolded it to show him. "Her name is Raven Branwen, and she's been gone for many years. Do you know anything?"

Junior took the drawing and examined it for a few seconds before handing it back to Yang. "I'm sorry, but I don't know anything about this person."

"Thanks anyway," Yang said opening another pouch on her belt and grabbed a small handful of silver coins and placed them on the bar. "For the damages." At that Yang turned around and left the building following Weiss onto the street.

* * *

"Ok, so, you're the daughter of the legendary blacksmith," Jaune tried to process causing Ruby to chuckle slightly, "and you are a farm hand who learned how to fight grimm using a GIANT scythe and learned how to non-lethally fight people. And now you are travelling with your sister and a friend to search the world for some guy."

"Well, yeah," Ruby said as they both stood up.

"You by yourself deserve a song," Jaune said, and across town a certain blonde's ahoge twitched. "I'd kind of like to meet your sister and your friend. If they are as good as you I might just have found my inspiration."

"Wait, your inspiration?" Ruby asked raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well yeah," he said grabbing his sack from the ground and slung it over his back. "It's a mutually beneficial deal. You guys would have me there to help out with ordinary things, and would get a song in your honor. I would get a song to be able to sing and grow fame. Also, during fights I could provide moral support by playing invigorating music with my instrument."

"Your instrument?"

"Oh right," he said then let down his bag and opened it up. He then pulled out a large wooden body with strings that went out over a out over a bar to an oddly shaped head. "This is my instrument, probably the most valuable thing I own."

"A strange lute?" Ruby asked curiously looking at the instrument.

"To the unknowing eye, maybe, but this is a whole different instrument," he said then played a chord. "This is a guitar."

"But it looks like a lute."

"It's basically a lute," he said then inserted the guitar back into his bag. "It's something that my family makes back home, but since nobody knows how to play it, the only people who can are members of my family, and not every one of them is a bard, so it's a lot of wasted talent. I on the other hand learned how to play from my older sister, so I'm actually very good at playing." He pulled the bag over his shoulder and turned to look at Ruby. "So, what do you say to my proposition?"

"I think…" Ruby trailed off in thought, "You should meet Yang and Weiss first before we go with the deal."

* * *

 **Yeah, Jaune's a bard. Not really a man striving to be a hero like the show (guys, there's a point to this. I swear), but there's something, also another thing I haven't mentioned.** **Weiss does hammer a man's hand in with her dagger and a tankard, but I thought it had the right amount of sass in it while she was trying to be intimidating.** **And CRDL are dicks, so that hasn't changed.**

 **I was going to more with the tavern fight, but then I thought I might as well have Ruby doing cool stuff.**

 **There's also an adventurer's guild. I wanted to put that in as a side plot sort of thing so the team can go do missions on the side if I ever feel like doing something random.**

 **What will happen next? Maybe some stuff with the adventurer's guild, or I might bring in another iconic character.**

 **Anyway, I'm going to try to un-numb my fingers.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	16. The Bird Thief

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the latest chapter of The Princess and The Rose. I actually am writing this at a decent time of day, so now my writing may not exactly be the greatest it has been in the past, or it might be considering the time's I've written on this at night.**

 **So, this chapter includes a very interesting robbery of one of our main characters, and we get to see one of the more iconic characters in this.**

 **I've noticed that the guest reviews that people post aren't showing up when I'm looking for them. I've moderated the reviews and approved them, so I've seen them already. So yeah, (Sword) Guest: I've heard of that fighting method. Parry then quick draw catching the opponent off guard.**

 **BF110C4: Yeah, I agree with you on that. Also, I thought since Jaune used the guitar in the show, it would be interesting to make him a bard.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"So where would your sister and your friend be?" Jaune asked the crimsonette as they both wandered around the streets of the marketplace. "I'm sure we've been walking for about an hour." The church's belltower started ringing. "Over an hour."

"They said they would be asking around for information. So, I have no idea," Ruby said looking around. As her head was turned, a person collided with Ruby throwing both of them down. Ruby's dagger fell out of its sheath in her boot and landed in the street. "Oh no," Ruby said scrambling to get to her dagger. Before she could reach it, a hawk landed on the blade's handle for a second before taking flight with the dagger. "Really? Did I just get robbed by a bird?"

"Ruby, come on, that dagger's as good as gone. The only way you could catch up to it is if you ran really fast after it," Jaune said causing Ruby to smirk. "Right, just another thing you can do."

"If you run into Yang and Weiss just tell them I got sidetracked," Ruby said getting into a running stance.

"How will I know who they are?"

"Yang is the long blonde haired woman in yellow armor," Ruby said then sprinted off through the crowds of people after the bird.

"Yeah, that's really descriptive," Jaune said as he continued his search for the rest of Ruby's group. "Wait, I could have them come to me." He walked into the center of the marketplace next to a tree and pulled out his guitar from his bag. He then placed a wooden box on the ground in front of him. "And I could even earn some money while I wait," he chuckled to himself admiring his own brilliance as he began playing a fast fun song.

* * *

After bolting off towards the hawk, Ruby was getting closer to the hawk. She was getting some strange looks from random people due to the fact that a red cloaked girl with a large scythe was running through the streets chasing after a hawk holding a dagger.

Ruby had to take several quick turns in order to avoid hitting people, but she didn't have to take that many since the hawk was flying down streets where there was less people. After seeing a couple of wooden crates stacked by a building, she had an idea.

Bolting to the side, Ruby ran up the sides of the boxes and jumped when she reached the last box. After landing on the rooftop of the building, she continued running after the hawk. She gained a lot of speed, but she did have a bit of difficulty keeping her balance.

The hawk then flew across the street taking a left towards the river. She couldn't let the bird get away with her dagger, so Ruby jumped into the street and landed on a fruit stand before jumping back onto a building. The next gap between the buildings seemed a bit larger than she could jump, so Ruby jumped to the right over a group of people landing on the street with a quick roll.

Recovering from her roll, Ruby bolted toward the hawk. The bird was still flying low towards the wooden docks. Ruby quickened her run as the bird started flying over the wooden dock and a moment later she was running across said dock.

Before the hawk passed over the water, it let go of the dagger letting it fly toward the water. Ruby ran even faster as she tried to run faster to catch the dagger, but before it went over the water a hand stuck out and caught the dagger. Ruby looked at the owner and saw a man standing at the end of the docks looking out over the water.

She then tried to stop nearly falling over. Her feet stopped and skidded down the dock nearly falling again, but she managed to stop before colliding with the man. She then looked toward the man who turned to her.

He was wearing clothes that looked closely to a noble's clothes. His black pants seemed to be a higher quality, and his black shirt seemed normal. Over his tunic was a dark green jacket had lighter green trimming, and he had a light green scarf wrapped around his neck. Finally the side features of his outfit consisted of small black glasses and a cane in his off hand.

"Ms. Rose, I've been meaning to talk to you," he said as the hawk flew over and landed on his shoulder, "And I see you've met my messenger."

"Who are you?" Ruby asked cautiously having her hand twitch toward her scythe slightly.

"I am a friend of you father and uncle," he replied tossing Ruby back her dagger. "Your uncle is actually doing me a favor at the moment. I hope we can have a little talk."

* * *

"So, where is Ruby?" Yang asked Weiss for about the fiftieth time as they searched the marketplace for the red haired farm hand. "She said she'd be in the marketplace. We've been looking for forever."

"One hour, Yang, at the most," Weiss told her as she walked towards the center of the marketplace.

"What is that sound?" Yang asked as she heard the sound of music coming from the marketplace.

"That would be a lute," Weiss said as they both started walking toward the music meeting with a large group of people. "Surely you've heard what a lute sounds like, you spend a lot of time in taverns."

"No, this isn't a lute," Yang said as they reached the front of the crowd of people.

Standing in front of them was a blond man holding an instrument similar to a lute, but much larger. He was playing a fast song that the crowd seemed to enjoy so much that the children were dancing along to the music and the box in front of the man was nearly half full of assorted coins.

"He's not bad," Yang said tapping her foot to the beat of the music.

"He's not terrible," Weiss commented as she turned around. "Come on, maybe your sister went someplace to get food."

"Wait," Yang said reaching into one of her pouches pulling out some silver coins. "If you stop to listen to a musician, you should at least give them some money."

"Fine," Weiss said taking a few coins from her pouch handing them to Yang. "Just hurry up."

"Got it," Yang nodded in confirmation as she walked toward the box. After she placed the silver coins in the box, the musician turned to thank the person who gave him money only to pause after he looked her over, still playing to please the crowd.

"Is your name Yang?" he asked her causing the blonde woman to be confused.

"Yeah, why?" Yang answered him as he finished the song he was on.

"Your sister was spot on with the description," he said snapping Weiss's attention on him. He did a quick bow to the crowd as they applauded him. "My name is Jaune Arc, the travelling bard. I was saved by your sister a little while ago. She was walking with me while looking for you, but then she was robbed by a hawk, so she ran off after it."

"She was robbed, by a hawk?" Yang asked him skeptically.

* * *

"What is stopping me from leaving?" Ruby asked him taking a cautious step back peeking over her shoulder for anyone else only to see an empty dock.

"Nothing," he answered her. "Honestly, child, there is nothing to be worried about." He stretched out his arms having his cane still in his right hand. "I have no weapon and I have cane. We are an easy ten paces apart and we both know how fast you are, so if I do attempt something, you could easily run."

"What is your name, first?" Ruby asked him getting somewhat at ease.

"My name is Ozpin, and I am the commander of Fort Beacon," he told her. "I understand that you easily beat one of my finer teams on your own, and without drawing a single drop of blood."

"How did you know that?" she asked him. "That was just a little while ago."

He chuckled. "Miss Rose, there is not much that happens here that I don't know about. If I don't know about your little journey with your sister, I would offer you a chance to be one of my knights. After all, you were trained by the Scarecrow."

"Scarecrow?"

"Yes, the Scarecrow," he said then smirked, "or as you know him, Qrow Branwen. Did you honestly believe that he was just a farmer?"

"Uhh, well," Ruby said tilting her head down a little as she blushed, "kinda."

"That is understandable, after all, he has been a farmer for the longest time," Ozpin said. "When I learned of your group's plan to travel Remnant, I thought I might as well do my part to help out."

"What are you talking abo-" Ruby asked before a burlap sack landed on the ground in front of her making her jump a little. She then thought back and remembered that there was no sack anywhere on the dock. Reaching down, she opened it up and saw a white leather bound book on top of a yellow leather book bound in a black ribbon. Next to both of the books was a wooden crossbow and several quivers containing bolts.

"They are simple gifts from me to each of your party members," he said with a smile on his face. "Your friend and sister seem to already have the tools they need for this journey, so the books are for them, but for you, you seemed to be missing something. That crossbow is from my personal collection, along with the various bolts. Those books in there were from my tower's library, so I believe your companions will find them interesting."

"Well, thanks, I gue-" Ruby said looking up from the burlap sack but was surprised by the sudden closeness of Ozpin who was standing directly in front of her within arm's reach.

"Terribly sorry about this, but nobody can know I'm here, especially not Glynda," he said pulling a glowing emerald from his pocket and placed it against Ruby's forehead.

"Wha-!" Ruby nearly shouted before her facial expression turned into an emotionless daze.

"Good. Now then," Ozpin said then cleared his throat, "You managed to catch that hawk on your own retrieving your dagger. Then you went into the shopping district and purchased those items in that burlap sack. You never saw me around here, and when you leave the docks you will return to your sister."

He then pulled the gemstone off of her forehead causing the young girl to start being dizzy nearly stumbling a little.

Ruby then snapped to attention then shook her head. "What? Oh right!" Ruby said then picked up the burlap sack and threw it over her shoulder. "Nice try you stupid bird!" She then turned around and walked away from the empty docks.

* * *

"If we can't find Ruby, I'm breaking that lute," Yang threatened causing Jaune to hold his instrument tightly.

"It's a guitar!" Jaune complained turning away from Yang slightly while holding his guitar protectively. "I told you, she was robbed by a hawk!"

"How do I know you're not part of a group of kidnappers who already got Ruby, and now you're trying to lead Weiss and I into a trap?" Yang asked him cracking her knuckles.

"Well, how about you ask her," Jaune said pointing past Yang.

She then turned around and saw Ruby on the other side of the street looking around. Ruby then spotted Yang and smiled before running to Yang.

"Yang!" Ruby running into a jumping hug.

"Ruby!" Yang exclaimed catching the younger girl. "Where were you? I was ready to break that guy's lute."

"It's a guitar!"

"I'm sorry," Ruby said breaking out of Yang's hug. "I was robbed by a hawk, so I ran after it. After I got my dagger back I went shopping. I bought gifts." She opened the burlap sack and pulled out the two books. She handed Weiss her book surprising the princess. Then she handed Yang the yellow book tied with the black ribbon.

"Ruby, this is great and all," Yang said looking at the book, "but I can't read."

"Well- I… I thought," Ruby sputtered out as she tried to remember why she bought Yang that book bringing her to the verge of tears.

"Ruby, it's fine, I love it," Yang said grabbing Ruby's shoulders to calm her down. "I'll just have you read it to me."

"What else is in the bag?" Weiss asked Ruby as she noticed something else in the burlap sack.

"Right," Ruby said then pulled out the crossbow showing it off to the three of them. "I found this uptown after I got my dagger back. It was pretty cheap, and so were the bolts."

"Now that we have confirmed that Ruby is safe and so is my guitar," Jaune said pulling the guitar strap over his shoulder having it hang behind his back. He then grabbed his box of coins and placed it in his travel bag before he picked it up. "So, Ruby, could we discuss the thing from earlier?"

"Ruby?" both Yang and Weiss asked looking toward the younger girl in question.

"Right," Ruby said kicking the dirt on the ground a little bit. "Well, after I kinda saved Jaune from some knights, we talked for a bit. He told me he was a bard, and he brought up that bards often go on adventures to search for inspiration for songs. He was wondering if he could travel with us. I told him that he'd have to ask you guys."

"Well, he plays good music," Yang said. "Bards typically write heroic songs about the people they travel with. I wouldn't mind having a cool song about me."

"Weiss?" Ruby turned to look at the princess.

Weiss was thinking. Jaune was harmless in all senses of the word. He wouldn't pose as a threat to her. Though, Jaune was a bard. They typically include the names of the people in their songs, and Weiss was a runaway princess. If He were to make that song famous, people would know Weiss was still alive, her father would know she was still alive. He would send people out to search for her. That may not be that bad, but they would have to bring her to her father, so she wouldn't be able to go after Adam.

"I don't really…" Weiss trailed off as she caught sight of Ruby's puppy dog face. She paused weighing her options about bringing Jaune along. "Fine," she said getting a bit angry at herself. "As long as he doesn't get killed, I'll tolerate his presence."

"Finally, I have a job that will actually work out!" Jaune exclaimed hugging Ruby. "Thank you. Thank you. I may finally be able to write my song."

"There is one condition that will need to be met if this is going to work out," Yang said putting a bone crushing grip on Jaune's shoulder. "You aren't going to be doing _that_ any time in the future."

* * *

 **Yes, Jaune may not live through this experience. I'm not going to ship Lancaster, it says in the description, White Rose. While it may look like it at first, trust me, it's not.**

 **Ozpin did appear in this chapter. I put him in to _push_ the protagonists a bit forward. So, did anyone catch what I did with the emerald. At first it was originally going to be a red gemstone, but then I remembered Emerald from the show and her little trick with the mind.**

 **I can feel you guys rolling your eyes at me. I thought it was clever, so ha!**

 **I also thought it would be a good idea to give Ruby a crossbow. She is the sniper of the team. Now, usually with the medieval ages, a longbow would be used for lots of range. While this may be good for snipers, it doesn't do much good for Ruby. The longbow uses both hands, one to draw and one to hold the bow. It wouldn't do much for Ruby since her combat style may cause her... I'm not going to explain this too much. The crossbow can fit on the back of her belt like Crescent Rose in the show. She can draw it and fire it easily.**

 **Next chapter, we can get into the adventurers guild with the team. A fencer, a ranger, a blacksmith, and a bard. So, when do we get to meet Blake? Patience, my friends.**

 **Anyway, have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	17. The Guild

**Hello everyone, J. Van A back with The Princess and The Rose. This seems a bit short and took a bit longer than usual, but I have finals coming up so you all know how that is.**

 **I actually have something to say at the end of the chapter, so yeah, be sure to read that.**

 **(Sassy) Guest: You know, I was just trying to show off Ruby a bit, kind of like the show did. I mean, I did screw up a tad bit making her a bit more commando. I have been planning some interesting stuff for each character, and I can bring it up sooner than later. I think we can all look forward to the castle ruins.**

 **(Nut Lik) Guest (You can bet that is sticking): Yes, Ruby is a weapon nut, but there's not much diversity in the middle ages about weapons with combining weapons.**

 **(Crossbow) Guest: Ssssssh! Nothing is set in stone.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"So, remind me again, why are we here?" Yang asked as they approached the large building next to Vale's church.

"Well, this is the Adventurer's Guild here in Vale," Ruby said gesturing to the building in front of them. "I thought it would be something we should join."

"Ruby, we're not going to be adventurers, just travellers."

"No, no, it's not a bad idea," Weiss said getting their attention. "Like I've said before, we will eventually need to worry about money. The coins you two received from your father is limited, and I can't access… my father's fortune. Jaune might be able to earn money on the road, but outside the capital his earnings are kind of limited."

"Thanks, I think," Jaune said to the princess.

"My point being," Weiss said somewhat annoyed, "is that most large towns have a guild hall, not being as grand as the capital. If we join the guild, then we could take up jobs offered by the guild from requests from around the area. That would be a steady source of income as long as we work for it. So, Ruby is on point here."

"Or she just wanted to be called an adventurer," Yang said crossing her arms looking at the red cloaked girl only to have her look away. "Yep."

"Either way, we should probably join, you too Arc, since you're joining us," Weiss said as they started walking toward the building. "We should also get you a suit of armor."

"Well-" Jaune tried to say before Weiss continued.

"A weapon would work too since you may end up in fights."

"I actually-"

"Jaune seems a lot like the kind of guy who would be good using a sword and shield."

"Hey!" Jaune said getting her attention. "Look, you think I haven't thought this through already. I've been travelling with knights for the past few months. I have a few pieces of armor, and I even have a sword and shield. I may not fight good, but I'm not stupid enough to travel without a weapon to protect myself."

"Ooh, where is it?" Ruby asked running over to Jaune, her eyes glinting.

"The sword?" Jaune asked having the crimsonette nod. "Well, it's in my bag, along with the shield and armor." He dropped the bag on the ground and opened it. He pulled out a simple longsword still in its sheath out of the bag and handed it to Ruby. He then pulled out a white shield with two golden arcs on it from the bag and showed to the rest of the girls. "See. I kind of know how to fight with this since Dove kind of took pity on me for the past couple months, but I'm not that good of a fighter."

"Alright then, that saves us a trip," Weiss said as Yang pushed open the doors to the guild hall. "Wow."

The inside of the hall was grand. It was a giant marble building with what you'd expect for a guild hall for adventurers. The middle of the hall was a line of tables that had adventurers having a meal retelling the stories of their previous adventures. Near the lunch hall, other than the kitchens that seemed to be running non-stop, was a shop filled with essentials adventurers need for their journeys. Next to the shop was a large forge that Yang seemed to float slightly towards. Near the doorway were series of counters with people behind there. Weiss seemed to put together that the counter was the registration desk. So, she grabbed Yang by her collar and started walking towards the registration desk.

"Hello, welcome to the Adventurer's Guild, Vale branch," the woman said from behind the counter smiling at the group. "Are you here to put up a request or are you going to sign up?"

"Sign up," Weiss answered. "We are a group of travellers and believe that while we travel we could do some work as adventurers."

"Wonderful!" a booming voice exclaimed from behind the counter. A large man with grey hair and a bushy moustache walked out from a room behind the counters. "It's wonderful that the adventurous spirit still lives on in the youth of this age. I remember when I first started out many years ago…" He then began trailing off telling a story about him fighting a pack of beowolves barehanded.

"Don't worry about Guildhall Master Port, he always gets like this," the woman from behind the counter said. If you want, I can help you register."

"So, how do we register?" Ruby asked peeking over Yang's shoulder to look at the thing the woman was grabbing from under her desk. "Do we have to fill out any contracts."

"No, actually," the woman said ducking under Port's demonstration punch as he told about how he decapitated the grimm in a single punch. "When the guild started out, there was complicated paperwork that needed to be done which meant charging applicants a lot for the paper used. After a generous donation by Glynda Goodwitch from Fort Beacon, the Adventurer's Guild received a giant magic tablet for the Vale branch and one smaller tablet for each kingdom's capital guild hall for which members can easily sign up without paper. So most people just have to pay the reduced registration fee of fifty silver."

"Fifty silver, that's cheap," Weiss said reaching for her belt.

"All that you need to do is place your hand on the tablet, wait for your name to show up, then agree to the terms on the contract. After that your information will be sent to the central tablet," the woman said handing Weiss the tablet as she gave her the coins.

Yang and Ruby immediately looked over at Weiss raising their eyebrows. Ever since they met Weiss, they never learned her last name. They each had learned little bits about her past, but never her last name.

Weiss noticed them looking at her and she noticed them staring at her. If they saw her name on the tablet for even a second, they could piece everything together and they would know she was the princess of Atlas.

She held the tablet and turned her back a little bit to try and turn away from the sisters, but they leaned over to look at the tablet over her shoulder. Quickly, Weiss turned all the way around and placed her hand on the tablet. As soon as her name appeared on the tablet, Weiss pressed the 'accept' section on the tablet and her name disappeared, disappointing both Yang and Ruby. Jaune was confused as to why the sisters were confused, but he decided not to read into it.

"Welcome to the Adventurer's Guild," the woman from behind the counter said as she took the tablet back from the princess. "Who's next?"

* * *

"So, now what?" Jaune asked as he handed the woman back the tablet.

"... And then I brought the dragonling's skull home with me and it's now mounted above my fireplace," Port finished as a crashing sound came from the dining hall. "Now what are those children doing?" he asked in annoyance as he walked from behind the counter toward the dining hall.

"I guess we can just look at the mission board," Yang suggested pointing towards a large bulletin next to the hall's doors. Standing in front of the board was a person in a tattered black cloak looking at a paper on the board.

"Or, we can travel to that abandoned castle," Weiss said making Yang remember her conversation at the tavern. Ruby, out of curiosity started wandering around the guild hall making her way to the bulletin board. Since Jaune didn't have that much say in where they went, he started following Ruby.

"So, the abandoned castle. We would just be going there to investigate and find out where the White Fang went."

"Weiss," Ruby called over from the bulletin board.

"That's the plan," Weiss answered Yang.

"Weiss," Ruby called again having Jaune wave to the two girls.

"What?" Weiss nearly shouted.

"Did you mean _this_ abandoned castle?" Ruby asked taking the paper off of the board and ran over to Yang and Weiss surprising Jaune from the sudden speed. The paper in her hands told of a dungeon that people had disappeared getting into after searching for treasures the dungeon had. "The lord who owned the land claims that the dungeon under the castle was taken over by some evil force and as long as nobody went under the castle, they would be safe. The lord wants the dungeon cleared of this evil force and will pay a decent reward for any adventurers who succeed. There's also a bonus to the mission saying that any treasures found in the dungeon are free to loot as long as the job gets done."

"Free stuff, and a lot of money?" Yang asked looking at the drawing of the castle on the paper. "I'm in."

"I'm sure this will be the makings for a great song," Jaune said thinking for a second. "The three warrior women banishing the evil from the ancient castle. I'm in."

"Please don't use that line in your song," Weiss said rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Look, as long as we investigate, I don't care what else we do. So, I guess I'm in."

* * *

 **So yeah, they are now adventurers. I've written that word so much I'm kind of starting to hate it. Peter Port is the Guildhall Master, I figured it fit.**

 **Yeah, so about the thing I mentioned earlier. I'm graduating! *throws confetti* *confetti starts on fire* I busted my computer, so I have to use my family's desktop to write fanfiction, and they like to look over my shoulder when I'm doing things. I'm also going to be moving out, and without a computer, and a job, don't forget the job part, I have to use my brother's computer to go job hunting. I may be able to manipulate my mother into allowing me to borrow her laptop until I get a job, or earn enough money to get a computer myself.**

 **Basically, what I'm saying is that after this friday, I might not get chapters out as fast as I normally do. If I can keep up the normal pace, that means I got some form of computer to write in my spare time.**

 **Wish me luck in becoming an adult.**

 **Anyway, have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	18. The Undead Swamps

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the most likely last update to The Princess and The Rose for a while.**

 **Yeah, I kinda rushed this chapter a little bit, and you can probably tell from how much we get through in that little time. We even get to see a little weakness of Ruby's. Yes, Ruby has a weakness. Sassy Guest kind of pointed out that I'm kind of making Ruby some epic boss so yeah, you get to see something interesting this chapter.**

 **JediMayukiDaAWESOME and GrnDrgnzrd: thanks for the support.**

 **FoxyFoundation: the cloaked figure is really Ozpin dressed in a sailor moon outfit. Also, be careful what you wish for.**

 **(Nut Lik) Guest: Jeez, you do know that guest reviews have to be approved by the author and if the author just ignores them, they will take 36 hours to show up. Yes, this fantasy world has dragons. It also has other monsters that aren't creatures of grimm.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"So, did you guys even bother to look at the location of these castle ruins?" Jaune asked the girls as they each started walking to the stables for their horses. "I know you guys said north, but this paper said that the ruins are half a day's ride from a town called Redbarrow."

"Ok, what is your point?" Weiss asked as the girls opened the doors to their horse's stables. "It just makes our journey a little bit longer."

"Not actually," he said walking past the girls to a stable where a brown horse was waiting for him. "I've been around a lot for my journeys, and I know the areas surrounding Vale pretty well. The town of Redbarrow is two days ride from here. So, if we put in the fact that we are leaving mid-afternoon, but the time we reach the town, we will have another half of a day to get there meaning that it will be dark by the time we get there. So, not only will it be difficult to go through the area due to the lack of light, we would have to worry about grimm attacks."

"So what's your suggestion?" Yang asked as Bumblebee trotted out of the stall with the brawler on her back. "You've thought this through, so you wouldn't bring this up unless you had an alternative plan."

"It's not really an alternative plan, per se," he said with a shrug as he jumped on his horse's back. "If we take the main roads and not stop for anything, we can make it to Redbarrow by mid-day and then we can spend the night at the inn."

"So, you just want us to plan a stop on the way to the ruins?" Weiss asked him causing him to nod.

"I've been watching you for a little while, and I can tell you want to get there fast. I'm just telling you that going straight there might not be the best plan," he said as he and his horse walked out into the middle of the stables. "If you guys want, I know the area pretty well, so if you guys want, I could guide us for a while."

"So, you think you can just come here, join our team, and be the leader all in one day?" Weiss scoffed at him.

"Well, I mean, if you guys want to try and navigate the undead swamps north of here all by yourself, I'll gladly just sit in the back and watch you guys get dragged into the murky waters," he replied causing the girls to have looks of shock on their face.

"I think we should let him take lead, for now," Ruby said looking at Weiss with tears starting to form around the edges of her eyes. Also, her protective petting of Chestnut's neck didn't go unnoticed by the others.

"F-fine then," Weiss said then coughed a little bit. " _After_ the swamps, then you can just be the guide."

"I never intended to be your leader in the first place," he said with a chuckle. "Come on, Clovis." He spurred his horse having it walk onto the street. "The streets will take a little while to navigate if there's a lot of people around, but we should be able to get through the swamp before sundown."

"Y-yeah, let's go," Ruby said then Chestnut bolted from the stables heading towards the northern gate.

"Is she always like this?" Jaune asked Yang as the three of them picked up their pace to chase after the farm hand.

"Are you comfortable with the thought of an undead attacking you?" Yang answered him as Bumblebee trotted faster.

"Undead are easy to fight as long as you don't fight a group," Jaune said to her. "Even I have no problem beating them, and that's saying something."

* * *

"So, is this the undead swamp?" Ruby asked looking around the dark area despite the sun still being high in the air. "Jaune?"

"No, actually the undead swamps are a bit further ahead," he said reaching to his belt drawing his sword. "When fighting these guys, distance is your friend. Russel got bit by one of these and we had to backtrack all the way back to Vale so the priest could purify the wound."

"What happens if you don't purify the wound?" Weiss asked him drawing her rapier from her belt.

"Well, there's a reason why there's so many undead in the swamp," he told them as the ground underneath the horse's feet started to get wet. "Aim for the head, and don't get off your horse for any reason."

"But what if-"

" _Any_ reason," he said lowering his voice as he started leading his horse down the worn down path. "Keep your voice down, sound attracts the undead."

The girls decided to keep silent as they followed the bard. Their horses, especially Bumblebee, were uncharacteristically silent, not even letting out a huff as they had to jump over a couple obstacles. That being said, it was surprising when they heard a thunk off to their right.

They each looked over to the source of the sound and saw the water splashing up from a large rock being thrown into the water. Then they saw as another rock sailed through the air and splashed in the water to their left.

"Who's throwing those rocks?" Yang asked as another large rock sailed through the air splashing the water again.

"I have a guess, and I'd say he's a bit mad that I punched him in the face," Jaune said then spurred Clovis's side signalling him to start running. "We need to get through here fast!" he shouted to the girls as their horses started running after his.

"What about being quiet?!" Ruby shouted from the back of the line of horses.

"Too late for that! We need to get through this fast!" he said as an undead approached the path. He took his chance and lobbed off its head.

"Why did you have to piss off someone?" Weiss asked as she thrusted her rapier into the head of an undead while Snowflake jumped over the headless one.

"Well, it's not really my fault," Jaune said as he decapitated another undead. "They were kind of jerks."

"Less talking more running!" Yang shouted as Bumblebee passed Snowflake on the path.

"Ya-ANG!" Ruby shouted as one of the undead jumped from the water managing to catch her foot. Before she could pull Crescent Rose off her back, the undead managed to pull her off Chestnut.

"Ruby!" Yang shouted back jerking Bumblebee's reins to the side to turn the horse around.

Ruby landed on the side of the path having Cresent Rose land out of reach. She had three undead around her. The undead to her right immediately bit down on her hand as the one that dragged her down bit her leg. Before the final one could bite her, Ruby quickly drew her dagger from her boot and stabbed it in the head. After removing her dagger from the undead's head, she quickly stabbed the one who bit her leg, then whipped her hand back throwing the third one back. Before the third undead could go back to attack Ruby, a hoof slammed down on the undead's head crushing it.

"Thanks Chestnut," Ruby said picking up Crescent Rose and securing it to her back as she jumped on the horse's back. Before the next group of undead could attack her, Chestnut bolted down the path at incredible speeds catching up to the rest of the group in no time.

"Jaune, she was bit," Yang told him as she turned Bumblebee back around to continue down the path. "We need to go back."

"It's too late now, we're nearly out," he said pointing ahead. "The area up ahead is dry land without any undead. They typically don't venture out from the swamp. A bite takes two whole days to be fatal, so we can rest up ahead while the creatures in the swamp die down. After that we can return to Vale and have the church purify her wound."

After going onto dry land they found an area suitable for a rest stop. After helping Ruby off her horse, Yang started inspecting the wounds holding Ruby's hand while wrapping the bitten one. When Yang checked the other area the undead had bitten only to find out that her chainmail had protected her enough to shatter the unfortunate undead's teeth while leaving a bruise. Around the bite, Ruby's skin turned pale having the veins in her hand turn a dark purple.

"Yang, it hurts," Ruby said as she started to sweat.

"Come on, Ruby, this is nothing," Yang said forcing a smile. "Remember that time you broke your leg and it was busted for only two weeks because of your crazy healing."

"It burns."

"Jaune, how soon before we can go back?" Weiss asked him as they both watched the sisters interact.

"Tomorrow, at the earliest," he told her sheathing his sword. "Nighttime does make the undead more active just like grimm, so it's probably the best if we don't head back right away."

* * *

 **I'm not sorry. Not one bit.**

 **Remember in the show how Ruby is terrible at close quarter's combat, well guess what zombies basically are, Left for Dead Zombies excluded. Yeah, Ruby's in trouble, and CRDL's to blame because they are douches. Yang's gonna break some balls.**

 **I also thought it would be interesting to, before my possible break, leave you all with a pretty good cliffhanger. I think I did pretty good.**

 **Anyway, there was something else I was going to tell you guys about... man, it sucks forgetting things. Oh, I may do some twitch livestreaming with my brother over the summer when I move in with him. If I actually do that I'll find some way to tell you guys.**

 **Well, this is probably going to be goodbye for a while.**

 **Time to be an adult.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	19. Jaune's Long Day (I'm Back!)

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A, and it is good to be back. Since you are reading this before mid-July, it means that I have successfully persuaded my mother into lending me her laptop until I managed to buy my own computer.**

 **I actually had been working on this whenever I had a chance after I graduated, which was a lot surprisingly, so that's why the chapter is so long. The only reason why I'm posting this now instead of a couple days ago is because, drum roll please, I've moved into my new house! So this is the first chapter posted at the new base of operations. I don't have a bed though, that my mother and I are getting on Thursday so I'll be sleeping on the floor in my room or on the couch in the living room.**

 **I've even applied to places to work, so if I can get the job I'm hoping for, this year will work out.**

 **Anyway,**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Yeah, I was planning on making Jaune actually useful. So far, I'm adulting fine, I even have rent for next month in case I don't get any jobs, but here's to hoping it doesn't come to that because I'm saving up for my Xbox One fund.**

 **RememberStars: I actually have been trying to figure out how I should introduce Penny, since she's a combat robot, and that in this time period there are no robots. Also, you seem to be a bit ahead of me with the love triangle idea, I haven't even brought the characters in. Maybe I could do something similar to Cole from Dragon Age Inquisition for Penny.**

 **FoxyFoundation: Penny wasn't introduced, that was RememberStars. Yeah, I agree Ruby's not that good without Crescent Rose, so that's why she didn't have it.**

 **(Sassy) Guest: You did have a point about Ruby. I was intending on having Weiss be in charge, but then I decided against it.**

 **Jiggly Joe: Yeah, Ruby does look similar to Summer, but I'm just saying, even though blond hair blue eyes are recessive traits to dark hair, they seem to be powerful, hence Yang's hair being yellow instead of black. So if we go by that logic, Ruby should be blonde, but still silver eyed because of silver eyes. Either way, I'm not a geneticist.**

 **Nut-lik: check your inbox.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Well, this isn't good," Jaune said as he and Weiss silently crept around a knocked over tree in the swamp.

"What? What isn't good?" she asked peeking over the tree only to have Jaune pull her down by the shoulder.

"Those undead aren't leaving," he answered her silently pulling his sword from its sheath. "Usually undead stay in a loud area for a couple hours, but these haven't left yet making passing through not an option."

"Why wouldn't they go?"

"Two possibilities, and neither are good," he said looking in between the roots of the tree at the group of undead. "Either the undead are getting smarter, or there's a lich around."

"A lich?"

"Yes, they are generally a higher form of an undead. The most common undead that we fought with yesterday was called a zombie, those generally are stupid and easy to kill. Liches are smart and can use magic. They also can command zombies easily making them stay in one area," Jaune explained looking back at the path towards their camp trying to figure out if any undead were nearby. "Liches also can rely on sight whereas zombies mostly rely on hearing because their eyesight is bad."

"We should be getting back then," Weiss said causing Jaune to nod and begin creeping forward with her following behind.

* * *

"Are they gone?" Yang asked walking out of Ruby's tent as Weiss and Jaune walked back into the camp.

"No, there's actually a bigger problem now," Jaune said placing his shield down on the side of a nearby stump that he sat down on. "The undead aren't leaving, and there are more powerful ones in the area making the undead stay close to the path."

"Then how are we going to get back to cure Ruby?" Yang asked him getting somewhat agitated. "You said it yourself, we need to get her to the church so they can purify the wound. Could I get on Bumblebee and take Ruby straight through the swamps?"

"Unless you're faster than magic, no," he said to her. "The lich could easily knock you off your horse and then have the undead attack."

"Then we kill all of them in our path."

"That also wouldn't work," Weiss told her sitting down nearby the fire. "There are not only a large number of undead, but probably multiple liches on the path. None of us have ranged weapons, except for Ruby's crossbow. I'm pretty sure none of us have the skills to take down a undead mage with a crossbow with one shot, so we can't take them on."

"Then we go around the swamps," Yang said somewhat desperate. "Bumblebee is the fastest horse here. I could put Ruby on Bumblebee's back and we could ride around the swamps avoiding the undead."

"Also not going to happen," Jaune said causing the blacksmith to glare at him. "The path we went on through the swamps was long, but it is the shortest path through the swamps. To go around the swamps would take at least a day and a half, if you had nothing in your path. By the time you got to Vale it would be too late. We have a day and a half left, so our best bet is to try and wait out the undead on the path to slip through."

"That's not good enough!" Yang shouted at him, having her eyes turn red for a second before he could notice it.

"Yang, get some sleep, you're not thinking clearly," Weiss told her from her spot. "You haven't slept at all since Ruby was bit. We'll need you rested and ready to move as soon as the undead clear up."

"I can't sleep, my sister is in pain," Yang nearly yelled at the princess.

"Yang, Ruby would want you to sleep, and you know it," she told her. "Jaune and I can watch her. We'll wake you up if anything happens."

"Fine," Yang huffed as she walked toward her tent. "Remember, if anything happens with Ruby, _anything_."

"Yes, yes, now get some sleep," Weiss said motioning for her to move. Yang disappeared into the tent and a few minutes later the distinct sounds of light snoring was heard coming from her tent. "I guess I will take first watch with her." She stood up and started walking to Ruby's tent.

"Good, I'll watch the camp," Jaune said turning around on his stump grabbing his shield. Weiss had already disappeared into the tent. Listening to the silence, Jaune was annoyed. He reached over to his bag and pulled out his family guitar. Then he started playing a soft slow tune just to break the sound of the forest behind him as he watched the area.

* * *

"How are you doing?" Weiss asked Ruby as she wiped the sweat from her brow. Ruby's response was a low groan from her sleep. "Alright, you're doing better."

She moved over to the side of Ruby's tent and sat there as she watched Ruby lay there sleeping. After a while of hearing Jaune's music, Weiss became somewhat bored. She looked around and saw the book Ruby had gotten her from Vale. Opening the book she started reading the pages and was completely absorbed in the text. The strange thing was that after she finished reading a page, she couldn't clearly recall what she had just read, but she continued through the book.

It seemed like a long time since she had started reading, and Weiss started feeling drowsy. She started to sway as she looked away from the book to check on Ruby. Suddenly she started falling over to Ruby's side closing the book. As she landed on the ground, there was a quick flash of light as she blacked out.

* * *

Jaune had been playing for a long time, and his fingers had started to hurt. At one point he thought he saw a flash of light from behind him, but he dismissed the thought and continued to play. After his fingers started to feel numb, Jaune put down his guitar and listened to the wind as he watched the sun start to droop in the sky.

From down the path, Jaune heard the sounds of hooves on gravel. Looking in that direction he saw a single horse with a rider that he couldn't distinguish.

"Weiss, someone's coming," he said, but after he didn't get a response he walked over to the tent and opened it up. Inside the tent he saw that both Ruby and Weiss were asleep. "Weiss, Weiss, wake up," no response. He closed the tent and grabbed his sword and shield. "Fine then, I'll deal with this myself." Walking out onto the path, Jaune moved his shield in front of him putting his sword to the side in a fighting stance that dove had shown him.

The rider was coming closer, but Jaune couldn't see who it was. He could see that the person was slightly slumped over wearing a black cloak having the only part of themselves visible was the lower portion of their face.

"You stop right there," Jaune said as the horse slowed down and stopped right in front of him. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" No response. "The path through the swamps is blocked by large groups of undead lead by lich. There is no point in attempting that way." No response. "Are you listening to me?" Still no response. "Hey, are you alright?" he asked walking over to the horse still having the rider not move. He sheathed his sword to nudge the rider. The rider was easily pushed by him causing them to sway before falling off their horse onto Jaune.

He was lucky that he was in the perfect position to catch them. Resting the person on the ground, Jaune opened the cloak and saw that the person was a black haired cat faunus woman wearing Vacuoan clothing, with a katana attached to her belt. The next thing he noticed was blood stains on her clothing with an arrow sticking out of her side.

"Ok, this is not good," he said picking her up to move her towards the camp. "Ok Jaune, just remember what mom taught you about fixing wounds."

The black horse looked at Jaune as he moved her rider. As soon as the horse saw Jaune set her down in the camp, the horse walked near where the rest of the horses were. Bumblebee immediately walked over and started smelling the new horse, much to its displeasure.

"Please be wearing something underneath, please be wearing something underneath," Jaune repeated over and over as he pulled the faunus's tunic up with his eyes closed. After her shirt was pulled off, he opened his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. She had her chest covered using bandages which was common for women fighters in Vacuo to prevent unwanted movement. "Alright, now to work on your wounds," he said as he began working on the woman's various wounds. It took him a few moments before he hung his head down and sighed. "If dad were here, he would never let me live this down."

The woman groaned a little bit as she tried to sit up before Jaune gently pushed her back down. "W-where?" she asked before cringing.

"Don't move, I'm trying to fix your wounds," Jaune told her. "My name is Jaune Arc, and you're at my camp. What happened?"

"Bandits," she said before she passed out.

"Well, that's not good," he said looking down the road to see if the bandits were coming. "First, the girl, then I can worry about the bandits." He grabbed a small bowl of water and grabbed a rag, then began to clean the arrow wounds.

* * *

After a short while, Jaune had stopped the bleeding on most of her wounds and stitched up the deep ones before wrapping them. After admiring his handiwork, Jaune remembered that there were still bandits, and that he needed to come up with a plan. He thought for a moment before coming up with a decent one.

Grabbing his sword, he went into the woods. He then found some bushes and other brush before cutting them off at the base. He hauled them off to the camp and started placing them over the area after making sure the fire was out and that all the girls were in the tents.

The whole campsite was completely covered with brush at that point so it didn't look like anything other than just an extension of the forest. He then grabbed the horses by their reins and lead them into the forest before tying them up to a tree.

Running back to the camp, Jaune found the faunus girl's cloak and pulled it on covering his head with the hood. He then left his shield under the brush and left his sword on his belt before walking to the middle of the path. When he looked over his shoulder, he saw four men on horses riding down the path. The one in the middle pointed at Jaune and drew his sword. That was a signal enough for Jaune to run.

Immediately, he ran down the path to the swamps. He was ahead of the bandits, but he was running on foot, so the bandits were closing in fast. Running down the path in the swamp, Jaune made sure the bandits were following him. By the time the bandits made their way into the swamps, they didn't realize they were drawing in the undead.

Thinking quickly, Jaune dived into the water holding his breath as he swam under the water making as little noise as possible. He could see the hands of the undead reaching up trying to grab at him under the water, but he managed to not get grabbed. At one point he had to draw his sword and attack one. He went back up to catch his breath and what he saw was the four bandits fighting the large group of undead. Before he went back down under, Jaune saw a blue bolt of magic strike the back of the leader throwing him into the water.

He continued the pattern of swimming under the water and going back up for air several more times before he made it back to the path. Pulling himself out of the water, Jaune pulled off the black cloak and let it fall to the ground as he did the same to catch his breath. At first he was somewhat worried that he would draw some undead to him, but then he heard the sounds of fighting and screaming.

* * *

It was a while before Jaune started walking back to the camp. Despite the swamp water being swamp water, it didn't smell too bad since he could stand the smell, but he was going to take his first chance at a river to bathe. When he returned to the camp, Jaune immediately fell onto one of the bushes and nearly passed out. Nearly meaning someone woke him up.

Yang had finally awoken after sleeping for a while. When she left the tent she was surprised by the brush outside her tent. "What year is it? I swear I didn't sleep in the mountains to avoid responsibilities," Yang said then remembered where she was when she saw the base of the brush. "Right, Jaune, Weiss, what happened?"

"Gah!" Jaune groaned as he pushed himself off of his bush. "Just as I finally got to relax."

"Jaune what happened?" she asked again as she lifted the bush in her path and threw it out of her way.

"Well, I've had a long day," he began as he started moving the brush. "After Weiss went into Ruby's tent, a girl came by who was attacked by bandits. I tried to get Weiss to help me with her, but she had fallen asleep next to Ruby, so I had to patch her up by myself. Then I had to hide the camp from bandits by going in the woods and cutting down bushes to take back here then hide the horses in the woods. Then finally I had to lure the bandits into the swamp so the undead could take care of them while I escaped by swimming underwater and avoiding any rogue undead. It's been a long day."

"Wait, a girl came by and there were bandits?"

"Yes, a cat faunus, I think she was travelling alone and was jumped. I cleaned her wounds and patched her up. She's sleeping in my tent if you want to check up on her," he explained removing the bush from over the campfire spot to be able to start a fire soon. "I'll go get the horses in a bit, but you should check on the girl."

"But Ruby-"

"Is in better shape than the other girl. Ruby was just bit, that girl was hit with arrows and it looks like she was stabbed a couple times," Jaune told her as he walked into the forest out of sight.

"Fine then," Yang said walking over to Jaune's tent and walking in.

Laying in the middle of the tent was a black haired cat faunus who was covered in bandages. Next to her was a kusarigama under a katana, which Yang was cautious of. Some parts of the bandages were stained with blood, but it didn't seem to be profusely bleeding, so Yang wasn't worried about that.

"Gah," the girl nearly shouted as she shot up and grabbed at her side where there was an arrow wound.

"Hey, calm down, you're safe," Yang said putting her hand on the girl's shoulder and pushing her back down on the bedroll.

"Where am I?" the girl asked looking around the tent.

"Jaune brought you into his tent after he patched up your wounds," Yang explained. "He also took care of the bandits, so you should be fine. You probably should rest and let your wounds heal."

"Thank you," the girl said then cringed as she held her side. "What is your name?"

"My name is Yang Xiao Long, and you should be safe with us. Now, I should probably go check on my sister," Yang said getting to the exit of the tent.

"My name is Blake," she told her as Yang smiled then left the tent. ' _They don't seem to be after my head so I should be fine,'_ she thought to herself as she reached over to her katana and pulled it close. ' _Just in case.'_

* * *

"Weiss, really?" Yang asked the princess as she peeked into the tent to see both girls sleeping side by side.

"Wha- Yang?" Weiss asked as she woke up and rubbed her eyes. Looking around she tried to find the book she was reading earlier only to find no sign of the book. "I was watching Ruby, but then… I guess I fell asleep."

"Weiss? Yang?" Ruby asked waking up looking at the two girls as she sat up causing both girls to nearly rush to her. "What? I feel fine."

"Ruby, Jaune said you'd still be sleeping and in pain," Yang said walking towards her sister and placing her hand on her forehead. "And that you'd still have a fever."

"I don't?" Ruby asked looking at Yang just as confused as she was. "Didn't I get bit by an undead?"

"Yes, and that's the confusing part," Yang said picking up Ruby's hand and unwrapping the bloody bandages. "What the-"

After rubbing away some of the dried blood, all three girls saw that Ruby's hand appeared normal, except for the bite marks that seemed to be healing. There were no black lines coming from the bite like it had the day before and the skin wasn't turning green like Yang had noticed earlier that day.

"So in addition to your crazy fast healing, you can now heal from venom?" Yang asked Ruby looking at the girl only to get a shrug in response.

"I was in pain all day until maybe a couple hours ago when I fell asleep," Ruby said looking at her hand.

"Maybe Weiss here healed ya," Yang said elbowing Weiss's side with a grin. "I saw how you two were sleeping side by side."

"I did absolutely nothing," Weiss said having a small blush appear on her cheeks.

Jaune popped his head into the tent. "Hey guys I'm ba…" he trailed off as he saw Ruby sitting in the tent perfectly fine. "You shouldn't be better."

"What's wrong with her being better?" Weiss asked him as Jaune sat at the doorway to the tent.

"Well, the bite from an undead is a serious thing. The venom is so dangerous that once it gets into your body, it requires a cleric with experience using healing magic to remove the toxins from a person's body. Not even roadside medical treatment would be enough for that kind of venom. How could you heal from that?" he asked Ruby causing the younger girl to shrug.

"Ruby's always been a bit weird when it comes to healing," Yang told him. "She one time broke her leg and it healed in two weeks where she didn't even have a limp from it. Even the cuts on her chest from a beowolf healed within a week so there's barely even a scar."

"So what you're saying is that Ruby's body might've just beaten the poison on its own," Jaune said resting his thumb under his chin in thought. "It's not entirely impossible for that to happen."

"So then," Ruby said getting everyone's attention, "can you all get out of my tent? This thing is really only meant for one or two people, not four."

* * *

"So, what now?" Yang asked Jaune as she watched Ruby and Weiss walk around the area so Ruby could stretch out her legs. "I think we could get some distance before nightfall."

"Not really that worth it," he told her. "By the time that we finish taking down our tents, it will be nighttime and grimm will be about. It's better is we have ourselves a bit more rested in case we get attacked."

"That and we still have an injured person here," Yang said gesturing towards his tent. "You said she came here after being attacked by bandits, right?"

"That's what I put together. All she really said was either where was she or she muttered 'bandits,' so I put two and two together," he explained to her. "You checked in on her, did she say anything else?"

"Well, she did day her name was Blake," Yang said thinking back a little bit. "Well then, I don't think she really said anything else."

"So what are you going to do the rest of the night?" he asked her as Yang stood up and cracked her back.

"Well I guess I can have Ruby read me that book she got me," Yang said looking at her tent where she had stored the book. She turned to look at her sister. "Ruby! Come on, you said you'd read me that book."

"Sorry Yang, but Weiss is helping me with target practice," Ruby called back holding up her crossbow. "I'll read the book to you later, ok?"

"Fine, I guess I'll look at the pages and see if there are any words I recognize," Yang called back as she turned around to the bard. "You wouldn't happen to know how to read?"

"Well, bards kind of have to be able to read songs. So yeah, I can read," he told her picking up his guitar as he threw another log into the fire. "I'm not going to read the book to you though. It seems like something you two should do together. I know my sisters wouldn't let anyone other than my mother or me read to them, even though most of them can read."

"You have sisters?"

"Seven of them," he answered her surprising the blacksmith. "My family's a bit old fashioned, meaning my father thinks a few of us might die in a plague, or maybe he wanted more than just one son. Now that I think about it, I might have a song about a foolish king who only had daughters."

"Alright then, I guess I'll just be in my tent," Yang said walking away from the bard who started playing some slow music.

As Yang entered her tent, she saw the yellow leather book sitting on her bedroll. Confused as to how it got there, Yang picked up the book and removed the black ribbon. She then laid down on her back and opened the book. What she found next was interesting.

The book didn't have any written words in it. The pages were just covered in symbols that Yang could for some reason understand. To her, the symbols were similar to what she had used before when she wrote things down, but there were more symbols in there than what she knew. The new symbols that were there, she could still understand for some reason, but as soon as she read a page, she forgot what was on it. She didn't go back to reread a page though for some reason since she just kept on reading.

It wasn't long till her eyelids felt heavy. She tried to keep on reading, but her tiredness beat that urge forcing her to sleep having the book fall on her face.

* * *

"So do you have any idea how to use a crossbow?" Weiss asked as she watched Ruby mess around with her crossbow.

"Kind of," Ruby told her as she pulled the string back on the body locking it to be ready to be fired. "It should be similar to a regular hunting bow, sort of. The crossbow is a bit heavier and has a lot more power up close, but it is still a variation of a bow."

"If you know how to work a bow better, why didn't you just buy a longbow instead of that?"

"Well, that's because… I dunno," Ruby shrugged in response as she aimed the crossbow at the wooden 'X' the girls hung up on the tree downwind of them. She then released the string firing the crossbow bolt off at an alarming speed towards the tree. "That was a lot more kick than I was expecting."

"Well let's see if you've hit your target," Weiss said as she and Ruby started walking down to the tree. They approached the tree and didn't see the crossbow bolt sticking out of the wooden 'X' "And you missed the target."

"Well this is the first time I shot a crossbow," Ruby said as she looked at the tree and saw something interesting. "Weiss, look at this." They both walked to the back of the tree and saw the back end had a hole with splinters sticking out from it.

"What happened?" Weiss asked as she looked at the hole. Then she walked to the front of the tree and saw a small hole in the wooden target that went straight through the target and then the tree. "How did you do this, with that?"

"I don't know, I just shot off a bolt," Ruby said looking at her crossbow.

"A crossbow that can shoot a bolt through solid oak must be a high quality weapon. How much did you even pay for that?" Weiss asked turning to the girl.

"It… was a bargain," Ruby replied giving a sheepish smile as she shrugged.

* * *

Jaune had kept practicing his guitar while he was watching the area. From behind him, he heard shuffling from behind him. He turned around and saw Blake exiting his tent pulling on her shirt while having her katana strapped to her belt. As she closed the tent flap she attempted to sneak away before she saw Jaune looking at her.

"You know, running off isn't that good of an idea at this time of day," he told her. "You're injured and night is approaching. We won't do anything to harm you, so you can feel safe. It's just me, and three other girls. Two of them are mostly harmless, but the blonde one sleeping in her tent is… I don't know, she scares me."

"I can't stay, hrngh-" she cringed as she held her side. Jaune was about to go over to help her, but she held up her hand to stop him. "I'm fine, I'm fine." She walked over to where Jaune was sitting and sat on a nearby log. "This is humiliating. I am a highly trained Vacuoan fighter, and I was jumped by a group of bandits with bows that hid in trees. After they shot me with a couple arrows they came and fought me, and I barely had time to escape before they got on their horses and followed me. They were after my head just because… I'm a faunus."

"Why would they want to kill you just because you're a faunus?" Jaune asked her setting down his guitar. "I mean, I know faunus are treated pretty badly, but why would bandits care for you, you aren't even travelling with any valuables aside from your sword and… that other weapons."

"Ever since the… death of the Queen of Atlas, the King set a bounty on White Fang members," she explained looking off into the distance. "After a while, people thought they could easily make a lot of money if they just killed faunus and claimed that they were White Fang members. So because of that, travellers were at risk."

"So then you shouldn't be travelling by yourself," he said then stood up and cracked his back. "I'm sure the others wouldn't mind you joining us. Of course I can't just make a decision without them here because I'm sure that one will bite my head off." He shuddered at the thought.

"I couldn't possibly, I would only cause you guys problems. I'm sure you guys had difficulty with those bandits."

"Well, all I did was lure them to the swamps so the undead could beat them, so they weren't _that_ difficult. I'm sure it won't be a problem. We can just ask Yan-" he said as he turned around and was surprised at what he saw. The flap to Yang's tent was on fire and was spreading up the tent side. "Shit! Yang!" He grabbed Blake's cloak that he had nearby and jumped over his stump. He then jumped clear over the campfire and landed in front of Yang's tent. Then he started beating down the flames with the cloak. "Yang, wake up! This is kind of an emergency!"

"Wha? What's going on?" Yang asked looking at the bard bleary eyed until she noticed the flames. "Jaune, why is my tent on fire?!" she asked him as he finished putting out the flames.

"I don't know, maybe one of the embers from the fire landed on the tent," he suggested as Yang exited the tent. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, but look at my tent," she said gesturing towards the flap. "Now it's ruined."

"Seems like minor fire damage," Blake said from her log getting the blacksmith's attention. "If he didn't turn around, there would probably be more damage than a singed flap."

"But it was a brand new tent," Yang complained then turned to Blake. "I see that you're awake, and feeling a bit better. A normal arrow wound would have a person complaining about the pain for days."

"Well, I won't say that it hurts, but in my training, we get used to pain," Blake explained resting her arm on her katana handle.

"That seems like a cool blade, I'm sure Ruby would like to inspect a Vacuoan blade, I'd also like to see what makes their weapons so strong while remaining sharp," Yang said looking at the sword. "May I?"

"No, I'd prefer you not," Blake said turning the handle away from her. "Whenever I draw this sword, it always seems to find blood."

"Ok, well, I'm a blacksmith, so I think I know how to handle a sword without harming myself," Yang said approaching Blake.

"My answer remains the same" Blake told her as she stood up to go back to Jaune's tent, but after she took a step she cringed and held her side. Before the two could go and help her she held out her hand again to stop them. "I'm fine, I can do this myself."

"We can help you, you know," Jaune said offering a hand to help her.

She swatted his hand away. "I said I'm fine," Blake growled at him. "I'm going for a walk, I'll be back." She hobbled into the forest while keeping a hand on her sword's hilt.

"Well, that was interesting," Yang said as she watched Blake disappear into the forest.

* * *

"We're wasting our time, that bolt probably shattered after it broke through the tree," Weiss said as she followed the young farm hand through the forest on their quest for the missing bolt.

"Well, I still want to see where it landed to get a feel towards the crossbow's range," Ruby told her as she kept skipping down the path ahead of them. "If I can figure out how much range it has from just breaking through a tree then I can see how far it could still go."

"You're wasting our time…" Weiss trailed off as she saw a large boulder ahead of them. In the boulder was a large crack in it. When they walked closer to it they saw the crossbow bolt sticking out of the crack still intact. "No way."

"Wow, this is cool," Ruby said hugging her crossbow. "From what I can tell, we've traveled about four hundred and twenty yards from where I shot the bolt off. So if the tree or boulder hadn't been in the way, I wonder how much further the bolt could've flown?"

"Alright, now can we head back?" Weiss asked her.

"Yeah, we should probably head back. It'll be dark soon," Ruby said removing the bolt then started walking back towards the camp.

They walked through the forest a ways before they came across a patch of brush. Weiss moved the brush aside and came face to face with Blake who was walking in their direction. As soon as Weiss saw Blake's sword, she panicked. She drew her rapier and swung at the faunus. Blake thought quickly and pulled her sword and sheath from her belt to block the strike.

Weiss then swung again at the faunus only to have her block again using the sheath covered sword. She then pulled back her sword and went for a quick jab aimed at Blake's chest, which she blocked easily again.

"Hey, hey!" Ruby shouted at the two grabbing Weiss by the arm pulling her back. "We don't need to fight!"

"Ruby, let go of me!" Weiss shouted at her as she struggled against her grip.

"Weiss," Ruby said causing Blake to snap to attention and look at Weiss with a surprised expression. "Look at her, she's barely even standing up." Blake was curious as to what Ruby said until she felt herself start to sway.

"Ruby, let go," Weiss nearly shouted at her when they suddenly heard a thud from ahead of them.

"See? Now then, I'm taking her back to camp," Ruby said walking over to Blake and picked her up with both arms.

* * *

"Hey guys, I think our guest needs to rest a bit more," Ruby said carrying Blake to Jaune's tent and placing her inside.

"Today has been a long day," Yang said causing Jaune to roll his eyes.

"You barely did anything," Jaune groaned as he fell onto his back.

* * *

 **This has been a long day, I moved all of my things three times, alone, which takes a lot of work, and I assembled a bookshelf, by myself because my brother's lazy.**

 **Oh, before I forget, here's a slight Omake**

* * *

"Glynda, this is an… unusual hour for you to entering my tower," Ozpin said glancing out his window to see the sunset. "Is there something that requires my attention."

"I was doing my daily inventory in my library, when I noticed two books missing, a white and a yellow leather bound book. You wouldn't happen to know anything about their disappearance, would you?" she asked slightly glaring at him.

"My dear Glynda," he said raising the glass to his mouth to cover his grin. "Whatever do you mean?"

* * *

 **Yeah, brief but informative. In case you can't figure out what that meant, well I'm not going to tell you, but I'm sure some others in the reviews will say.**

 **Anyway, I'm going to get some well deserved rest. You guys can expect some more chapters soon since I have to wait probably a week and see if I get an interview. Basically, according to my brother, if I get an interview, I've already gotten the job because my** **résumé was better than his when he got the job.**

 **So, have a nice day, I'm going to get some sleep.**

 **-J. Van A**


	20. The Night After

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A wit the latest chapter of this story. I'm sorry this was a bit late, and it isn't as big as the previous one because I've been busy the past week. I've basically been a carpenter building all of my furniture by myself, and then I even had to help move couches into my house.**

 **Anyway, we have a new chapter that basically is the night after. I'm kind of disappointed in myself that I didn't move the group to the castle ruins, but maybe I'll do that next.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Come on, Jaune, you said you'd take first watch," Yang said pushing the bard's side only to get a groan in response. "You said you would. Would you really go back on your word?"

"I think I've earned this," Jaune groaned as he turned to face Yang with his bloodshot eyes. "While you guys were passed out, I saved a girl, hid our camp from bandits, lured bandits into undead territory, survived undead territory, took down the camp's camouflage, and put out the fire on your tent. I think I deserve being able to sleep through the night. You three can easily take turns watching the camp."

"Fine then, I'll take the first watch," Yang said as Jaune rolled back over on his bedroll in his tent.

Exiting the tent, Yang saw Ruby looking over her crossbow as she checked the weapon over. Weiss was inside Ruby's tent searching for something. Yang simply walked over to the campfire and tossed a log in.

"So Jaune refused to take any watches tonight," Yang said as she sat down on a nearby stump. "You two should probably get some sleep, and Weiss, you're not sleeping in that tent."

"Of course I know that," Weiss said throwing her hands in the air in frustration. "I've been searching for my book in here that I dropped earlier, but I can't find it anywhere."

"Well, if it's not in Ruby's bedroll, then it's not in that tent because you've checked every corner of that tent about fifteen times," Yang said as Weiss lifted Ruby's bedroll then groaned in frustration before leaving the tent. Yang then turned to Ruby, "And you, to bed, you can stare at your crossbow tomorrow."

"Fine, Yang," Ruby huffed out as she walked over to her tent. She then closed the flap and was completely silent.

"Before you say anything, I'm going to bed," Weiss said to Yang as she walked over to her tent.

"I hope you can sleep fast, because I'm waking you up for the second watch," Yang told her as she huffed and walked into her tent.

"Alright, now I have to do something for a couple hours," Yang said as she stared at the fire.

After a while of looking at the fire, Yang looked away into the night. She noticed some movement in the forest. It would've been grimm or some other animals that wander through the forest, but if it were grimm, they wouldn't attack unless there were more grimm there, or if they were confident beasts. Either way, Yang made sure to have her gauntlets on.

* * *

A couple hours later, exhaustion caught up with Yang, so she walked over to Weiss's tent and entered.

"Weiss, wake up," Yang said as the white haired woman slowly woke up.

"Nnngh, Yang? Why did you wake me up at this unholy hour?" Weiss asked her as she rubbed her eyes to look at the blonde.

"It's time for your watch," Yang told her as she yawned and left the tent followed closely by Weiss. "Keep your weapon on hand, there are grimm and wild animals in the area, just don't go hunting them."

"Alright, when do I wake up Ruby for the next watch?" Weiss asked sheathing her rapier on her belt.

"Judging by the hour, you don't," Yang told her looking at the sky. "By the time you'd consider waking Ruby up, dawn will be breaking, and then everyone else will be waking to take down the camp."

"Great, just great," Weiss huffed in annoyance as she walked away from Yang.

"One more thing, you should probably check on Blake in a while, she should be in my tent at the moment," Yang told her as she walked over to the princess's tent and walked in.

"And now she's sleeping in my tent," Weiss groaned from her half awake annoyance. "Let's just hope she doesn't set my tent on fire with her luck."

Weiss sat down on the stump nearby the campfire and began her watch. She noticed the creatures of grimm in the forest across from the path that were just travelling. She saw as one pair of glowing red eyes looked at her before looking ahead and moving away.

Nearly two hours had passed when Weiss had considered looking for her book, but then remembered that she shouldn't wake Ruby. A little while had passed when Weiss had decided to check up on the faunus sleeping in Yang's tent.

She approached the tent and opened the singed flap so she could enter carrying a small lantern. She set the lantern down next to the girl as her other hand cautiously grabbed the handle of her rapier. Then, with her free hand, Weiss picked up the blanket.

Suddenly the girl moved in her bedroll. Her right hand swatted Weiss's hand to the side then quickly moved to grab her wrist and prevent the princess from drawing her sword. Then with her free hand, she drew her kusarigama from under the blanket placing the blade against Weiss's throat.

"Finally come to kill me, Schnee," Blake spat having weiss feel the venom dripping from her words. "Just couldn't resist finishing the job."

"What are you talking about?" Weiss asked her looking at the black haired faunus. "I just came in here to check up on you since you passed out earlier. And how do you know my name?"

"Still lying," Blake said as she continued glaring at Weiss. "All faunus know of the Schnee's brutality to their kind, me especially."

"Look, earlier when I saw you I panicked after I saw your sword," Weiss said as she tried moving her neck away from the blade only to have her press the weapon harder on her neck. "Look, I will let go of my weapon if you remove yours from my neck. Deal?"

Blake thought about this for a moment. "Fine," she said pulling her weapon back as Weiss let go of her's. "If you even move your hand back, I will not hesitate to strike you down."

"Well that sounds fair," Weiss said as she backed away from Blake out of the tent. "Seeing as you're already awake, would you join me outside?"

"Better than staying awake in here," Blake said as she exited the tent. Weiss sat down on her stump on one side of the campfire, so Blake sat on the other side not taking her eyes off of Weiss.

"You never answered my question," Weiss said breaking the silence.

"What?"

"How did you know my last name?"

"You're royalty, anyone in the four kingdoms should know who you are unless they were raised on a secluded island."

"Well, that explains one thing…" Weiss said looking off to the side. "So, why did you just assume that I was going to kill you?"

"Isn't that what Schnees do?" Blake asked her causing the princess to be surprised. "That's how your family came to its fortune, isn't it?"

"The Schnees don't deal in slavery anymore," Weiss defended her family. "My family now deals with merchandise trade."

"And do you happen to know what 'merchandise' your family sells?" Blake asked glaring at her. "You may not like to hear this, but faunus are kidnapped in Vacuo by members of your family, or those employed by them, and sold across the kingdoms as slaves. Did you really think that your uncles were just simple merchants?"

"You have to be mistaken, there is no way my family could be involved in something like that," Weiss said as Blake picked up a nearby log and angrily threw it into the fire creating a large cloud of embers to rise.

"You sheltered little princess!" Blake yelled at her. "And you wonder why the White Fang hates your family. Sure some members of your family have been killed over the decades, but you've had it coming!" Blake shouted before she stopped herself when she realized who she was sounding like. She sat back down on the log before hanging her head down. "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have said that."

"No, you were going somewhere with that," Weiss said glaring at the faunus. "Please, continue."

"No, no, I'm not," Blake said pulling her legs close to herself.

"Come on, let's hear the 'The Schnees are evil and must all be killed so faunus can be treated better' speech," Weiss said standing up. "You call me sheltered, but you don't have any idea what I know. Being the princess means you can easily be a pawn in the game. I remember when my sister was kidnapped by the White Fang and was nearly killed in the name of faunus freedom by the crazed fanatics. Luckily she was saved by the Elite Atlesian Knights before she could have her head sent to my father."

"Please, can we stop talking about this," Blake said burying her face into her knees.

"No, you started…" Weiss said then trailed off as she saw Blake sitting there. "Fine then, we'll stop talking about this. Look, as long as you don't attack us, I won't attack you. Deal?"

"Fine. I take it the others don't know you're the princess," Blake said looking up from her knees.

"No, they don't seem to know, even Jaune who seemed to be knowledgeable didn't know who I was," Weiss explained as she turned around to look at the path and look for any threats. "Just don't tell them who I am. I have reasons for not telling them."

* * *

 **So yeah, I figured I might as well have Blake and Weiss have a little conversation. Yeah, not my best chapter, but yet, a little informative.**

 **I'm probably just going to have weekly updates considering all the stuff I'm doing during the week. Yes, I know it seems like I'm making excuses.**

 **I'm pretty tired, so goodnight everyone. I promise I'll be moving the plot forward soon.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	21. The Team Finally Gets to Redbarrow

**Hello everyone, J. Van A is back and feeling a lot better. Ever since I moved into my house I had to sleep on the couch because I had no bed, but on Tuesday I finally got one, so I've been sleeping properly again, yay.**

 **So, this chapter is relatively normal sized when comparing them to previous chapters. I kind of like making them about 2,000 words long because that's pretty simple and you guys don't sit reading one chapter for an hour. I probably will have chapters like those, but I'll probably end up telling you guys about that in advance. (btw, when the team goes into the ruins, that will be a long chapter)**

 **Yeah, I actually forgot to do the whole review response last time, sorry, so I'll do them now.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: (first review) yep, I see no point in hiding it anymore, Weiss and Yang got magic from Ozpin's gifts. (Second review) Thanks for the support bud.**

 **Nut-lik: No, Ruby isn't wolverine**

 **FoxyFoxation: I haven't yet put Penny in here. I might bring her in after a couple story arcs, but not yet. (oh, and you can bet this is going to be a long series)**

 **(Sassy) Guest: It's balancing out, unless you're getting very analytical with her crossbow like Mossblomma (I'll get to you in a second)**

 **1Fanfanatick: Yeah, I like the two sides to a coin thing I've been tying to get in there, there was also a hint to something about Blake back there.**

 **Mossblomma: You might be right about the whole Ruby's bow should shoot farther, and I'm not that great with aerodynamics and physics (going for business major, nothing in science) but I also don't quite see the use for a crossbow that could shoot two kilometers (sure sniping is good, but it's meant to be a crossbow, not a sniper rifle, yes I know she's a sniper in the show, but not my story). Think about it like this, Crescent Rose in the show is very good on its own, but the ammunition is what also makes it even better, depending on what kind Ruby uses.**

 **Now that that's out of the way**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Alright everyone, it's daybreak, wake up!" Weiss shouted to everyone in their tents as she walked by batting the tent while Blake dumped a bucket of water on the camp fire. "We have another day's ride before we get to Redbarrow, so everyone needs to pitch in when taking down the camp."

"Alright, let's do this," Ruby said bursting out of her tent filled with her typical energy despite yesterday being at death's door. She then immediately went to work on disassembling the tent which, to Weiss, seemed like a red blur.

"Wha- Ruby, I told you to stop putting Zwei in battle armor," Yang said bleary eyed as she exited the tent and blinked a couple times. "Why am I outside?"

"We are travelling," Weiss told her as she walked over to Jaune's tent and swatted the tent flaps. What she didn't realize was that Jaune was already awake, so when she swatted the tent, she managed to hit him right in the face.

"Why?" Jaune complained as he held his face.

"Hurry up, we're leaving as soon as possible," Weiss told him as she walked over to her tent and began taking it down.

"It's still dark out, why do we wake up before the sun?" Yang complained as she pulled on one of the tent's ropes pulling the stake out of the ground.

"It's better to take the camp down before dawn, that way when the sun comes up, we can be leaving," Ruby said as she finished rolling her tent putting it in its bag. "Time to check up on Chestnu- I mean the horses." She pulled her bag over her shoulder as she started jogging over to the horses.

"How can she have this much energy?" Jaune asked rubbing his nose as he started taking down his tent.

"I don't know," Yang said as her tent collapsed in front of her. "I lived with her, and I never figured out the source of her extreme energy."

"Hurry up," Weiss told them as she started folding her tent.

* * *

"Chestnut~ Chestnut~" Ruby sang as she skipped towards the horses. She hadn't been able to pet Chestnut for a while, so she needed to pet her adorable horse. Before she reached the horses, Ruby stopped at the sight of Blake standing in front of the black horse petting the side of its face. "Uhh, hi," Ruby greeted her causing Blake to jump.

"Oh, uhh, hi," Blake said as she walked to the pile of horse saddles and began putting one on her horse. "Sorry for all the trouble."

"It's fine," Ruby said as she collected Chestnut's saddle and began placing the pieces on said horse. "We would've helped you anyway."

"Even though I'm a faunus?" Blake asked looking back at Ruby who was confused at the question.

"Why would that matter?"

"You don't really know, do you?" Blake asked as she heaved the saddle up on her horse. "Did you grow up in some remote village?"

"No, Yang and I grew up just a boat ride away from Vale, on Patch," Ruby told her as she started fastening the saddle's belts. "On Patch, we don't treat faunus any different than we do each other, so I guess it's not like how the rest of the kingdom treats them, based on what Weiss told me and your question."

"Patch, an island where everyone is equal, heh," Blake chuckled as she finished securing the saddle to her horse.

"So, what's her name?" Ruby asked Blake as she started putting another saddle on Bumblebee.

"Pardon?"

"Your horse, what's her name?" Ruby asked as she watched Blake put a saddle on Clovis.

"Oh, her name is Nightmare," Blake told her looking away from Ruby.

"Nightmare? A bit dark, but it does kind of fit," Ruby said looking at the horse. "Black and red eyes."

"She chose it herself," Blake said with a little smirk on her face. "Back in Atlas I asked her what I should name her, and when I suggested Nightmare, she agreed."

"You're from Atlas?" Ruby asked her as she began tightening the belts on the saddle.

"No, no, I'm originally from Vacuo, but after some events, I ended up in Atlas for a while," Blake said looking down at the ground as she finished putting the saddle on Clovis. "Either way, I'm here now, and that's what matters right now."

"So, are you two having fun?" a new voice asked catching both girls' attention. When they turned around, they both saw Weiss standing there with a tent bag over her shoulder. She then walked over and put the saddle skirt on Snowflake's back. "You guys can bring the horses to camp so we can load up the saddle bags with our supplies. I'll take care of Snowflake's saddle."

"Alright, if you think you can handle it," Ruby said raising an eyebrow at the princess as she tried picking up the saddle. As Ruby was walking away with Blake, Weiss had managed to put the saddle on Snowflake's back, but before they could leave the horse's area, the saddle slid off the horse's side forcing the princess to let out a stream of curses. "And I guess I'm staying."

"I'll handle these three," Blake said taking Bumblebee's rein from the farm hand then began walking the three over to the camp.

* * *

"Hey, Blake," Yang called out to her as she brought the horses over. "We finished packing up, come help us load up the saddlebags."

"Alright, if you want we can distribute some of the weight onto Nightmare's saddle," Blake suggested as Yang started piling on several camping supplies into Bumblebee's saddle.

"We could, but Bumblebee is a strong horse," Yang said patting the yellow horse's shoulder earning a happy neigh from the mare. "She'll probably get mad if she thought we were taking it easy on her."

"Your horse seems very expressive," Blake said as Bumblebee walked over. Before Blake could even say anything, Bumblebee raised her head and placed the bottom of her jaw on top of Blake's head before lifting it up and going back down, resulting in the horse patting the faunus.

After a couple seconds of that, Nightmare stepped in uppercutting Bumblebee's head with the bridge of her nose making the horse stop petting its master. After Bumblebee recovered, she let out a sad whine then started walking away from Blake over to Yang. Yang calmly hugged the horse and started stroking its cheek.

"Hey, I'm sorr-"

"It's fine, really," Yang said letting go of Bumblebee's head. "Bumblebee can be emotional at times, but she doesn't have any bad feelings toward Nightmare."

"That's good to hear."

From behind both of them, they heard a strained cry then a sudden thud. They turned around and saw Jaune laying on the ground covered in a pile of camping supplies with only his hand sticking out from the pile.

"Guys, can you help?" Jaune asked as his hand suddenly went limp.

* * *

The rest of the day was relatively normal for the group. While they were riding, since three of the four girls had never gone on adventures before, and Blake wasn't willing to talk, they had asked Jaune about his journeys.

He eventually told them of the times he went travelling with CRDL to Mistral at the request of Ozpin. While they were there, the team of knights had travelled to the southern reaches of the continent searching for ancient artifacts with a scribe who was a friend of Ozpin's. In the middle of an ancient ruin they were surrounded by three griffon grimm who were said to be guardians of the ruin. A fight broke out and CRDL fought the grimm, but while they were occupied by two of them, the third had went after Jaune and the scribe. So, since Jaune didn't have any fighting capabilities, he simply used his shield to defend the scribe and himself. It was only after three minutes into the fight that the scribe chanted some strange words and the grimm was immediately incinerated.

After Jaune got to that part of the story, the group of five made it to the town of Redbarrow, which was a simple little hamlet. Most of the houses were either wood or, how Weiss described them, peasant houses, being made from simple materials. The town did have a stone tower in the middle of the town with long red banners streaming from the battlements. Near where the tower was, was a simple tavern that seemed to be busy. After putting the five horses in the tavern's stables, the group went in.

Yang immediately went over to the bar and started drinking mead after dragging Jaune along in an attempt to hear more of his stories. Ruby immediately walked over to the bartender and handed him a small sack filled with money to pay for Yang and Jaune's drinks before informing him to not serve her any more after the coins she gave him ran out. After that, Blake, Weiss, and Ruby rented rooms from the barkeeper. The only problem was that there were only two rooms open.

In order to not have the group leave in search of another inn, Weiss agreed to using only two rooms, which got a confused look from Blake and Ruby. After telling Yang and Jaune which rooms were theirs, the three girls went into the larger room in hopes of there being more than one bed. They were wrong, simply put. The room did however have one bed, a rather large one the three could easily sleep on. After Blake and Weiss shared some uncomfortable glares, Ruby convinced them both to go to bed, having Ruby sleep in between the two girls.

* * *

The next morning Jaune woke up completely exhausted underneath a simple bedframe. He only came to realizing that he was under the bed after he tried getting up only to bash his skull on the wood. That roused the blonde blacksmith who swiped her hand under the bed until her palm touched his forehead. After she had a light grip on his head, it suddenly got tight as she forced his head into the floor effectively knocking him out.

* * *

 **Yeah, I could've made the ending a bit longer including the actual dialogue, but I figured that I might as well try my hand at descriptive writing which I hardly ever do since I like dialogue better. I am good at fight scenes when it comes to descriptive writing, so when the team gets to the ruins, expect some long fights that actually happen in a matter of minutes.**

 **Well, I'm a tad bit tired, I helped out my father today with some manual labor (yeah, boo), so I'm a bit sore, but now I can go sleep on my bed that finally came in.**

 **Everyone have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	22. The Castle Ruins

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of the Princess and the Rose. So yeah, we finally get to the castle ruins. I was considering BSing around for a chapter or two, but I figured I might as well advance the plot.**

 **So, I've seen a couple comments about when WhiteRose would happen or if I could speed it up. There were also some other ones I liked, like Foxy's one about Ruby being a Ladieslady... I guess that's how you would say it.**

 **Yeah, about the WhiteRose. I am making this story a WhiteRose one, but it's not going to be like other ones I've seen. I will make it happen, trust me, but the genres are adventure and humor. I know a lot of you followed this story expecting there to be major romance advances in the plot, so some of you might remove this from your list.**

 **My reasoning behind this is because, well, in normal relationships, you don't just meet someone and get into a relationship, unless you go to a bar or speed dating or online dating. My idea is that when a romance starts, they get to know each other before any real romance starts. The WhiteRose might take a while before starting, maybe after they deal with Adam or a bit before. There is more I'm planning after the team deals with Adam, because there's Cinder and Salem. This is going to be a long series, plain and simple. I might even do a slight spin off thing about the future, but it might spoil things for the story. And now as most of you can tell, my brain is bleeding onto the keyboard typing just about whatever flows out of my head, no matter what comes out. I could delete some stuff from the paragraph, but I don't like doing that because I like being honest with you guys about what I'm thinking.**

 **Anyway, oh right, reviews not about WhiteRose.**

 **1FanFanatick: Yeah I liked Shadowmere from Oblivion and Skyrim, they were awesome horses. Also Nightmare is a bit more based on a grimm in my opinion.**

 **FoxyFoxation: And the group will most likely not be in civilization for a while, unless I go with the arc I'm planning for introducing Ren and Nora.**

 **Nut-lik: BEFORE 4th OF JULY! Anyway, yeah, Ruby did kind of heal a bit fast, but that time was because of Weiss's healing magic. Also, more magic to come.**

 **(Not WhiteRose) Guest: Yep, he met Oobleck. At some point I will give him a proper introduction, but that will be for later.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

In the morning Weiss was greeted by an interesting sight. What she saw was two amber eyes glaring at her. She immediately glared back with the same intensity as she and Blake did with her. They stayed like that until Ruby came back into the room drying off her hair.

"Morning," Ruby said with a yawn. "Yang and Jaune are down in the tavern nursing the back of his head. I already washed up, so you guys can get ready before we leave." At that, she grabbed her cloak before leaving the room.

"You first," Blake said not even changing her glare.

* * *

"We are making great time, considering the timely setback," Yang said as the group rode their horses down the dirt road.

"Yang, my head was bleeding," Jaune told her as he glare at her with expressionless eyes. "And whom was the cause of my head bleeding?"

"Anyway, does anyone know when we should be reaching the ruins?" Yang asked looking away from the bard. "We've been riding for a long time."

"We should reach there before nightfall soon," Blake said from her horse as she readjusted her cloak to cover her weapons. "By the time we get there, we should be able to set up a camp before grimm start acting up."

"But didn't that flyer back at the guild say that there was an evil force inside the ruins/" Ruby asked the group as Chestnut slowed down to match Nightmare's speed. "If we go there, then wouldn't that put us at risk, especially if we stay there overnight."

"Yeah, it does sound kind of suspicious," Weiss agreed with Ruby. "We may be well armed, but whatever evil force that lives in that ruin can't possibly be not a threat. It did drive the lord's soldiers from that land out forcing him to request aid from the guild. It even forced the White Fang into running away."

"We should be fine," Blake said getting everyone's attention. "The 'evil force' doesn't leave the dungeon built under the ruin."

"I don't quite understand the whole dungeon thing," Yang said looking at Blake. "Usually castle dungeons are just small basements built to hold prisoners. What kind of evil force could possibly be living in there?"

"If you were going by castle terms, then you would be right," Blake told her. "I was speaking in adventurer terms. So that means that the dungeon is a large underground building that expands pretty far and houses terrifying creatures. The White Fang also was only there for a short while because the leader needed to learn something from the dungeon."

"And how would you know that?" Weiss asked her causing the faunus to pause for a second.

"Faunus talk to each other," she answered her wiggling her ears. "Most faunus don't trust humans so they like to talk to their own kind. Also the White Fang is a common topic among faunus conversations. You just have to listen."

"Yeah, or something else," Weiss muttered as she slightly squinted her eyes at Blake.

"Hey look!" Ruby exclaimed as she pointed ahead. "I can see the ruins ahead of us!"

Ahead of them was a giant decrepit castle. Surrounding the castle was a giant wall with several holes in it. One of the towers on the walls was half collapsed, but there seemed to be some woodwork inside the hole apparently made as some haphazard wall to protect during attacks. Among the holes in the wall surrounding the castle were some new looking ones that still had scorched holes and arrows sticking out from the cracks.

"Alright, we've made great time," Yang exclaimed as Bumblebee galloped even faster passing Chestnut. "Let's get into the place and set up camp."

* * *

After the team made their way into the ruins from crossing the drawbridge, they made their way to the courtyard to set up camp. Yang immediately found the forge and started heating up the fires while the rest searched the area for wood to make a campfire. Blake did run off to search the castle for any materials for the fire, but she did return carrying several books. Just like Blake had said earlier, shortly after they had arrived, the sun had begun to set, so they had the light sources of the campfire and the forge to illuminate the courtyard.

"So, first thing in the morning, we need to investigate the ruins to find where the White Fang went," Weiss said as she sat down next to the team around the campfire, excluding Yang, who was still at the forge. "After that we can attempt to fulfil the guild mission."

"Well, actually," Blake said picking up one of the books she had gathered earlier, "this is a journal of one of the faunus who was here when the faunus occupied the ruin."

"So a White Fang member," Weiss interjected, to Blake's annoyance.

"Yes, a White Fang member," she said slightly cringing. "According to this, he was a bear faunus named Phillip, who worked the forges. Yang, he wrote that there is a supply of Orichalcum ore hidden behind the smelter!"

"Thanks!" Yang shouted back as she walked over to the smelter.

"Also, there is some information about why they were here," Blake told them as she flipped through the book scanning the pages. "Apparently, the White Fang was here to investigate the evil force here. The leader believed that the secrets learned by it could help their cause."

"Did this Phillip mention what the secrets were?" Weiss asked her as she took a bite of dried jerky. "Or did he mention where the White Fang was travelling to?"

"Well, unfortunately, I found Phillip half-hanging out of a window with an arrow lodged in his eye," Blake said causing Ruby to suddenly choke on her water. "So, I don't think that he wrote anything more in his journal."

"Awfully convenient," Weiss muttered as she tore off another piece of jerky. "So, considering defending the ruins, I believe that we should raise the drawbridge since the mechanisms are still intact."

"Well, it should be done soon," Ruby agreed with Weiss as she took a bite from her dried meat.

"Yeah, someone should get on it," Blake said grabbing a piece of dried fish from her bag and took a bite. Then simultaneously the three girls turned their heads to look at Jaune while they were still chewing on their pieces of meat.

"Oh, come on," Jaune groaned as he stood up and walked over to the drawbridge.

* * *

"Yang, wake up," Ruby said as she nudged her sister awake in her chair that she slept in at the forge.

"Wha, wha, WOAH!" Yang shouted as she fell off her chair from being suddenly woken up. After she picked herself up from the ground, Yang dusted herself off and looked around.

Weiss and Jaune were busy disassembling the tents and putting out the fires while Blake tied the horses to the castle's stables. Ruby herself was carrying Yang's armor and gauntlets since she had already put on her own set.

"Right, we're doing stuff today," Yang said as she grabbed her armor from Ruby and began putting the yellow armor on.

"Yep, you, Weiss, Blake, and me are going into the dungeon while Jaune is staying back to watch the camp in case someone comes by or if we need a quick escape," Ruby told her as she walked over to the wooden table in the forge. On said table was a line of five daggers made of a dark green metal. "Did you make these?"

"Yep, made from the Orichalcum ore behind the smelter," Yang said as she put on her chest piece. "They should be pretty decent quality, but they're not as good as dad would be able to make them."

"It also would've taken him a week," Ruby said causing both of them to chuckle.

"Yeah, but speed does sacrifice quality," Yang said still chuckling.

"The first thing he taught us about blacksmithing," Ruby said remembering the day Yang started her apprenticeship.

"Hey," Weiss shouted from the camp getting the two girls' attention. "We're heading to the dungeon right now. Hurry up."

"Got it," Yang said picking up one of her daggers sheathing it on her belt before running after Ruby who was already running after Weiss.

* * *

"Ok, so this is a bit creepy," Ruby said as the group of girls exited the staircase into a large room with several pillars leading to a large door.

The room kept with the architecture of the castle being made from the same materials. The door ahead of them seemed to be made from black granite and didn't have any handles. Around the room, the team could see that several of the pillars were already destroyed and pieces thrown about the room. Next to the door was a giant two story tall statue of a knight with a giant greatsword covered in metal armor, and on the other side of the door was a pile of rubble which looked similar to the statue except that the statue seemed to be cut into several large pieces.

"So, a door with no handles is the entrance to the dungeon," Blake said as she approached the door to get a better look.

"Well, we need to get in there to discover what the White Fang was after," Weiss said as she looked at the destroyed statue. "What were the point of these statues?"

"Maybe the person who made the castle felt that the dungeon needed a cool entrance," Yang said as she walked over to the door next to Blake.

"That could be the case," Blake said to herself as she moved closer to the door.

"Maybe it could be part of the dungeon," Ruby suggested as she looked at the fallen pillars. "We basically entered dungeon territory when we entered this room. Who's to say this isn't part of the dungeon."

"Don't be silly," Weiss said to Ruby as she tried to move the knight's helmet. "It's obvious that the door is the entrance to the dungeon. Why else would they make the door complicated?"

"She does have a point," Blake said pressing her hand against the granite door. "This is a dungeon. It's supposed to be difficult and not play by the rules." Suddenly a blue pulse of light went through the door originating from Blake's hand. From somewhere in the room a slight cracking sound could be heard. "That was something."

"Blake, what did you do?" Weiss asked turning to the faunus.

"I don't know, I just touched the door," Blake said to the princess.

"Well, something is going on," Yang said looking at the two.

"Look out!" Ruby shouted at the three pointing at the statue.

The three turned to where Ruby was pointing and were surprised. The statue's eyes were glowing as it lifted up its greatsword above its head. Before it could slam the blade down on Blake and Yang, Yang quickly caught Blake with one arm and bolted out of the way throwing both of them to the ground away from the greatsword.

"See, I was right," Ruby said drawing her crossbow from her belt. After she loaded in a bolt, she fired it off aimed at the statue. The bolt hit the knight helmet, but simply ricochet off the metal impaling the wall. "And that did nothing."

The knight turned its head to look directly at Ruby before turning the greatsword. It then started dragging the blade across the floor aiming at Ruby. Yang and Blake were starting to pick themselves off the ground, but before the blade reached them, Blake tackled Yang throwing the two of them to the ground.

"Wow, aggressive already? And we just got to know each other," Yang smirked at Blake as the blade passed over the two of them.

"Is now really the time?" Blake asked as she jumped off of Yang getting some distance from the knight.

Before the blade could reach her, Ruby jumped in the air over the tip of the greatsword. The greatsword missed Ruby, but it sailed through the air breaking through a nearby pillar.

"So, we found the first part of the dungeon," Weiss said pulling out her rapier getting into a combat stance. "A giant knight wielding a giant sword, and I have a rapier." She looked at her right arm. "And I don't think this shield is going to help much."

* * *

 **Yeah! We finally get to see the Giant Armor. I figured that I would have Weiss fight it on her own, but since she can actually get hurt from impacts, I figured it should be a group fight.**

 **I've been a tad bit busy lately, but I've finally settled in at my house, so I have plenty of time on my hands.**

 **Bit of a warning, the next chapter will be longer, so I may take longer to get out.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	23. The Dungeon

**Hello, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of The princess and The Rose. I'm sorry this was a bit late, I got sick with pneumonia and after that was over Pokemon Go came out, so I had to be the very best, like no one ever was. Team Valor! My roommates and I also had D &D campaigns on sundays.**

 **Anyway, we finally get into the fight with the statue, which took most of my time. Then we get into the dungeon. Btw, it may get confusing, but I know what I'm doing.**

 **Review time! *upbeat music plays***

 **1Fanfanatick: I'm not going to leave you out of the notes just because, technically yes, Weiss doesn't have the scar yet. Also I think I forgot to do something with the scar in this chapter. *gasp* spoilers! Who could've seen it?**

 **Yaksher: Well guess what?!**

 **Reviewer: I'm sorry I'm trying to not make my characters seem robotic. I'll work on that.**

 **Nut-lik: Wizard battles, well, not yet. Yep, Weiss knows healing magic, which kinda clears up a plot hole that is brought up in this chapter.**

 **FoxyFoxation: Special crossbow plus special ammo equals tears through trees and boulders. Also I kind of, yet again, kind of, clear up that plot hole.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Weiss quickly bent over raising her shield above her head just in time for it to hit the side of the statue's greatsword pushing her down further. "This isn't working!" Weiss shouted to the team as she stood back up then turned around and ran safely out of range of the greatsword. "We need to come up with a better plan!"

"Well, do you have any ideas?" Yang asked as she ran to the statue's legs and started punching them repeatedly. "Because I'm currently at a loss."

"Weiss," Blake said getting Weiss's attention from somewhere hidden in the room, "You looked at the broken up statue, how was that one destroyed?" she asked then emerged from the top of one pillar throwing herself at the statue. She quickly drew her katana slashing at one of the statue's shoulders barely cutting the stone under the plate armor. After that she sheathed her sword then jumped back into the shadows before the knight could turn its head to look at her. "Maybe they can only be killed in one way."

"I don't know," Weiss said as she backed up slightly to avoid another strike. Then she started running up to the knight's legs. "All that I saw was that the knight was broken up in several pieces, but that was probably because the stones broke when they fell." She then jumped up in the air striking at the knight's knee managing to pierce under its armor before jumping back and retreating. "Ruby!"

"On it," Ruby said from the back of the room as she fired off another bolt at the knight hitting right in the chink of its armor. She then secured the crossbow back on her belt then sprinted towards the destroyed statue. As she was running, the knight started another swing. Before it could hit her, Ruby quickly jumped up in the air dodging the blade. Then she landed back on the ground and started running again, not losing any of her momentum.

She stopped right in front of the other statue and began examining it. After looking around the whole statue, Ruby saw that most of the rubble had one straight side and the rest were jagged. She then looked at the metal armor and noticed something interesting.

"The statue was cut all the way through in one cut," Ruby told the group as she listed a piece of plate metal. "The armor is three inches thick and is made from a metal I don't recognize, but it's pretty strong. How could someone cut through the armor and statue with a single strike?"

"I have an idea," Blake said jumping from another pillar as she drew her katana cutting the knight's side. "It's an old Vacuoan sword technique that only masters know. It's where a swordsman is capable of cutting through steel meant for defeating heavily armored foes on the battlefield."

"I take it you don't know it?" Yang asked putting a lot of strength into her next punch hitting the inside of the knight's knee causing it to stagger a little. She looked to Blake who only shook her head as she lunged in for another strike. "Ok then. Anyone, ideas?"

"Maybe," Ruby said drawing Crescent Rose from her back. "This thing seems relatively human, so it might have some weaknesses. Blake, follow my lead. Yang, jump back."

"What is she planning?" Blake asked herself as she watched Ruby place her scythe to her side. "Oh."

As soon as Yang was out of the way, Ruby started running at the statue full speed. Blake ran to the front of the knight and quickly ran forward. Ruby ran directly at the knight's left leg hitting the armored boot tearing through the metal but leaving the stone underneath intact. Blake didn't have as much luck due to her sword harmlessly grazing the boot.

The two reached their other side and turned around before running at the opposite leg causing Ruby's plan to click in Blake's head. As Ruby cut through the metal boot of the other leg, Blake easily cut through the stone underneath. They ran at the legs again, but this time Ruby aimed her scythe so that it cut through the back of the boot while Blake cut the other leg's side.

As they ran at the knight again, Blake cut the back of the knight's leg while Ruby hooked the front of the other leg allowing her to quickly redirect herself so the blade cut the stone then tore open the back of the boot armor. Ruby then unhooked the knight's leg allowing herself to get beside Blake.

Ruby then started to run in a circle around the knight having Blake run the other direction. Since Ruby was the faster one, she reached the knight's left leg before Blake allowing her to strike cutting clean through the base of the knight's foot. Blake ran forward reaching the knight's right foot using her katana to cut through the foot's base. Due to the knight's tendon being severed, stone or not, it quickly fell forward with a massive crash.

"Yang, Weiss! Get it now!" Ruby shouted as she and Blake stopped themselves.

Weiss immediately ran forward and jumped onto the knight's back. Remembering human weaknesses and location of organs, she quickly stabbed the knight through a chink in its armor around where the heart should be stabbing her rapier down to the hilt.

"Sorry, but I only brought one of these with me," Yang told the statue as she ran up to its head drawing the dagger she made the night previous. As she ran to the helmet, Yang aimed the dagger at its right eye. She then stabbed her dagger into the stone eye having the hilt break off leaving the blade in the no longer glowing eye.

The knight roared in pain causing both girls to jump back in surprise, Weiss drawing her rapier from its back. They all watched as the knight slowly raised itself with steam rising from its wounds as they closed themselves. Then as the stone wounds healed the metal connected with itself leaving no sign of an attack.

"How can we beat this thing if it can heal itself?" Yang asked as the four of them backed away from the statue. "Ruby, how were you able to cut through the armor? I was punching it repeatedly and it didn't even dent."

"I had a hunch," Ruby answered her. "The armor seems enchanted so it can absorb impacts. I figured since the other statue was cut into pieces, we could probably cut through it if we had enough force into the swing. Because of Crescent Rose's curved handle and sharp blade, I could rip open the armor."

"So we have a knight that can't be damaged by punches, great," Yang said as the knight picked itself back up.

"Blake, you and Ruby need to cut that thing down again," Weiss said getting a confirmatory nod from both of them.

The knight let out a roar as it stomped on the ground. The impact immediately caused the girls to stumble. After Blake regained her footing, she ran to the back of the knight preparing to attack when Ruby got in position. The knight then slammed the tip of its greatsword down on its right as Ruby started running to the front of the statue. Before Ruby could react, the statue swung its sword hitting Ruby in the abdomen catching her on the sword. The statue then whipped Ruby around throwing her past Blake hitting the wall on the other side of the room.

"Ruby!" Yang shouted as she started running over to her sister.

The knight turned to Weiss and was about to slam its sword down on her, but Blake quickly tackled her out of the way. As the two landed they felt the shock from the sword's impact near them. Blake quickly jumped off of Weiss as she drew her kusarigama from her back and the weighted dagger at the other end of the chain.

"Weiss, we need to distract it while Yang helps out Ruby," Blake told her as she started running through the knight's legs stabbing her dagger in the back of the knight's knee.

Weiss picked herself off the ground and readied her rapier. "Alright, but I'm sure you can't cut through armor, and neither can I, so we need to focus on hitting the chinks in its armor."

"Alright, I have an idea to distract it," Blake said jumping in the air behind the knight having the chain trail behind her as she landed on the statue's shoulder. Before the knight could react, Blake jumped over its chest using the chain to change the direction of her swing. So she followed through the swing going under the knight's armor landing on its back.

Weiss ran forward and stabbed the knight's knees and jumped away from its legs before it kicked her. She then grabbed onto Blake's chain and pulled herself upward before stabbing into the knight's back. She drew her sword from its back then jumped back to the ground before the knight swatted at her.

Blake then jumped from the knight's back at the sword arm still having the chain trail behind her. She ran down its arm then dived off it as the knight swung its sword managing to hook her chain on the knight's cross guard. She then used the momentum from her swing to swing back around to the other side wrapping the chain around the sword's blade before hooking the small scythe on its chain.

The knight then attempted to swing its sword only to have the chain tighten around itself stopping the blade mid swing. It looked confused for a second before it saw the chain connected to its sword.

It simply let go of the greatsword letting it fall. As it was falling, Blake still was on the sword holding on to her kusarigama, so as it fell, the chain caught on her wrist keeping her attached to the sword. The statue then grabbed the chain with both hands and pulled causing the weighted dagger end to unhook itself from its leg.

Blake was still attached to the greatsword as it fell onto the ground. The knight then picked up the sword again and threw it with Blake still attached. The greatsword flew through several pillars before the blade impaled the ground. As the sword stayed in the ground, the chains loosened letting Blake land on the ground. The knight then turned to Weiss and tilted its head to glare at her.

"Yang, I need some help!" Weiss shouted as she backed up from the knight. "Yang!"

"Give me a second!" Yang shouted as she was carrying Ruby to a corner of the room.

"Yan-" Weiss shouted before the statue kicked her in the chest throwing her near Blake who was still slumped against the sword. "Fuck," she cursed to herself as the knight walked over to its sword and grabbed the handle.

Weiss rolled onto her back after she tried picking herself up only to have her chest pain flaring. In one swift movement, the knight pulled the greatsword from the ground and held it above its head with both hands. Weiss closed her eyes as the knight swung its sword downward.

Weiss felt a sharp pain in her face, then felt warm liquid flow over her face. She then opened her eyes only to see that half of her vision was blocked. It took her a second to realize why her vision was blocked. The edge of the knight's greatsword was directly over her left eye and had cut over her eye just barely cutting her actual eye. The greatsword was then lifted from her head giving Weiss a chance to move. She quickly rolled out of the way allowing her to see what happened.

Standing partially down the length of the blade was Yang holding the greatsword still in her hands. Then Weiss noticed Yang's hair was glowing and she had a snarl on her face, but the most interesting part was her eyes had turned a red color.

"You hit, MY SISTER!" Yang shouted as she pried the greatsword from the knight's hands then threw it off to the side. Her fist suddenly burst into flames as she started running up to the knight. She jumped in the air and threw the fire making it hit the knight's chest lighting the chestpiece on fire.

The knight let out a loud roar as it felt the fire begin to melt through the armor. Yang didn't even let up on her attack as she jumped directly into the fire punching the burning metal. Even though the armor was enchanted, when Yang hit the armor, she felt the metal cave in and the stone underneath crack and break. She then placed her feet on the armor and launched herself off landing on the ground next to Weiss.

"Hey, you alright?" Yang asked her as she helped the princess to her feet. "You have a pretty nasty cut there."

"It stings like hell," Weiss told her as she ran her thumb across her cheek and saw the blood. She then saw how the knight was still roaring from the fire. "We need to take that thing down, and both Ruby and Blake are down. Also, why didn't you tell me you could throw fire."

"To be honest, I didn't know I could do that," Yang said looking at her steaming gauntlets. "We can use this to weaken the armor and you can stab the thing."

"Alright, do it quick," Weiss said cringing as she readied her rapier. She looked around the room and saw Blake leaning herself against a nearby pillar. The she saw Ruby slumped in the corner of the room with her scythe to her side. The pain in her chest started to feel even warmer as she prepared to attack.

The fire extinguished on the knight's armor giving it a second to recover. Yang's palm lit on fire as she prepared to throw another fireball. The knight's chestplate started steaming as it fixed itself.

The knight then started walking forward just as Yang threw her fireball. It then raised its left hand and caught the flames melting its fingers. Yang then threw another fireball only to have it be blocked again melting its hand off. The knight then reached its sword and picked it up with its good hand and started dragging the tip of the blade across the ground aiming it at Yang.

Yang was unprepared due to her exhaustion from using her fireballs, so she didn't have time to block the attack. Before the blade could hit her, there was a sudden white flash of light. After the light faded, Yang saw Weiss standing there with her sword stabbing into the ground, and the greatsword stuck in a giant chunk of ice.

"I take it you didn't know you could do magic either?" Yang asked taking heavy breaths.

"It was more of a spur of the moment kind of thing," Weiss said as she looked at the knight struggle to pull out its greatsword. "Yang, just how strong are you?"

"I don't know, why do you as-" Yang asked as she looked at where Weiss was looking. "Oh, I think I get it."

Weiss nodded then ran forward. She jumped on the greatsword then ran down the length of it reaching the knight's hand. Before it could remove its hand and attack her, she stabbed its wrist creating a large chunk of ice trapping the hand to the handle and weakening the stone underneath. She then jumped from the wrist and landed on the ground between the knight's legs. Then she stabbed each of the knight's ankles freezing them to the ground.

"Yang, now!" Weiss shouted as she jumped from the knight's leg to the back of the knight.

Yang jumped onto the greatsword and ran down the length for several feet before jumping in the air. She then punched the frozen wrist shattering the stone and ice underneath. Yang then followed through with her landing as she hit the handle of the greatsword breaking it free from the ice at the end. She landed on the ground and let out a roar as she lifted the greatsword blade. She managed to swing the blade hitting the nook between the knight's helmet and chestpiece cutting through the knight's neck. She followed through with the swing stabbing the sword into the ground. The knight's head landed on the ground with a loud thud and the two believed that it was finally over, at least until the knight's head started to steam and let out a low moan.

"What does it take to kill this thing?!" Yang complained as the knight's body start to move slightly.

Weiss then looked at the knight head and looked at the glowing red eye glaring back at her. "Yang, I have a hunch," she said running between the knight's legs as the ice started to crack. She ran directly up to the head aiming her rapier. She then thrusted forward stabbing it in the eye causing the knight to let out a pained roar. They both watched as the knight's body start to crumble and fall apart.

"Well, I think he's a bit _broken up_ over losing," Yang said turning her head to Weiss with a giant grin on her face.

"I'm- I just- I can't," Weiss said pulling her rapier from the knight's head sheathing it.

"That was awesome!" Ruby exclaimed as she ran over to the two.

"Ruby, how are you standing?" Weiss asked her as she looked confused at the perkiness of the farm hand. "You got hit full force by the statue's greatsword."

"Dad's armor," Ruby said lifting the chainmail shirt to show a large straight bruise that already formed. "It protected me enough to not have the sword cut me in half, but this bruise seriously does hurt."

"Blake, you ok?" Yang asked looking in the direction of the faunus.

"I'll be fine," Blake said picking herself up from the ground wincing as she held her side. "Ok, so we've managed to beat the guardian. I think we should go back up to camp and recuperate."

"About that," Yang said scratching the back of her head. "The door we came through kind of closed itself at some point during the fight. I tried bringing Ruby into the stairwell, but the path was blocked."

"So what now?" Weiss asked when suddenly the black granite doors opened. "Alright then, I guess we have no choice but to go forward." At that the doors started creaking as they began to close.

"Time to go," Ruby said adjusting her chestpiece then started running to the door followed by the rest of the team.

They each made it to the door just in time for the door to close behind them and seal with another blue pulse. They entered a long corridor that was dark until torched on both sides of the ignited dimly illuminating the room. From all around them in the darkness, the skittering of creatures could be heard.

"Everyone, be on your guard," Blake warned them as her ears twitched on top of her head. "Just because we beat the guardian doesn't mean we're in the clear."

"I agree," Weiss said drawing her rapier as she walked over to the walls. After she inspected them, she slid her thumb across the stone surface. "This is strange. From what I can tell, there are a series of symbols carved into these walls."

"Really?" Blake asked walking over to the wall. "I don't seem to recognize these symbols. Maybe we should record them to bring to a scholar."

"Well can you two do it quickly?" Yang asked as she and Ruby both got into fighting stances brandishing their weapons. "I'm not saying that I don't like this place, but I kind of don't like this place."

"Give us a minute," Weiss told her as she turned to Blake. "Do you still have that blacksmith's journal."

"Yes, but," Blake said pulling out the journal only to have it snatched by Weiss who pulled out a stick of charcoal. "You do realize that it is going to take a long time to record those symbols down perfectly."

"Not for me," Weiss said with a smirk as she began copying the symbols from the wall perfectly at an alarming rate. "There are a lot of these here so I'll need maybe ten minutes to copy down the whole thing."

"Alright, so we just have to wait ten minutes in the dark creepy hallway," Ruby nervously chuckled as she gripped Crescent Rose. "What could possibly go wrong?" Immediately, the chittering of creatures could be heard becoming closer.

"You know, Ruby," Yang said shooting a glare at her sister, "When you say things like that, the bad luck deity, J'vana, takes it as a challenge."

"Right, right," Ruby said pinching the bridge of her nose. "Dad was always superstitious."

From the ceiling of the corridor descended a group of several giant spiders roughly half as tall as Ruby. Blake quickly spun around drawing her katana cutting through three close spiders. Ruby slashed through several spiders as she lunged forward, then after following through with the attack, she spun around and swung her scythe upward following through with a downward slam impaling the spider on its head instantly killing it.

One of the spiders jumped at Yang, but she quickly punched it burying her fist inside its head. She then whipped the spider to the side so it collided with another one. She lunged forward delivering an uppercut to another spider before bludgeoning the next spider's head with her elbow.

Another spider descended from the ceiling, so Ruby attacked with an upward arc stabbing it through the thorax slamming it to the ground before she twisted the blade to the side. With one powerful swing the scythe cut through the spider managing to slice through nearby spiders.

Blake used her kusarigama to stab the neck of a nearby spider. Then she grabbed her weighted dagger and stabbed another spider between its eyes. Grabbing the chain, Blake pulled on the chain ripping the sickle from the neck of a spider, then she whipped that chain stabbing another one in the head. Pulling the other side of the chain, she pulled the weighted dagger from the other spider and whipped the blade into the eyes of another spider.

Just before the group of spiders could come closer, Yang let out a yell as she slammed her foot down on the ground. As she did that, her hair started to radiate fire. The spiders immediately took the hint and started running away.

"Alright, done," Weiss said closing the book as she readied her rapier. "Now, where are the spiders?"

"They're gone," Blake said rolling up the chain of her kusarigama. "Kind of coincidental like that, but then again, J'vana is also the god of coincidences to make situations progress faster."

"So wait, do we have bad luck or enough luck to get out of fights?" Yang asked.

"Bad luck," Weiss answered immediately as she sheathed her rapier then opened the book. "It took seven minutes before I realized that the symbols repeated every thirty lines."

"How could you write over thirty lines of symbols within seven minutes?" Yang asked her.

"Skills," Weiss said simply as she placed the journal in a side pouch of her armor. "Now then, let's go."

* * *

The group of four made their way further into the dungeon avoiding conflict. They had removed a couple torches and walked down the long corridor not noticing any side paths.

Blake was standing following the group from the behind keeping her hand on the handle of her katana. She kept staring into the darkness since she could see in the dark. From behind her, Blake heard the sound of faint footsteps behind them.

She turned around for a second to see what was following them, but didn't see anything. She turned back around only to be greeted by colliding her face into the wall.

"Yang, Ruby?" Blake asked looking around.

She looked to the right and saw the path turned sharply. Following down the path, Blake couldn't see any of the other members of the group, so she started jogging down the path.

Her heart was pounding as she started running down the pathway. After a while her breathing was very hard requiring her to stop and breathe.

When she stopped, a gloved hand covered her mouth while another arm wrapped around her arms. Before Blake could react, she was pulled into the darkness where not even she could see.

When she could see again, she was thrown against a wall with a red sword pressed against her neck. As her eyes adjusted, she could see the masked face of Adam Taurus.

"I told you if I ever saw you again I would kill you," he snarled pressing the blade further onto her neck. "I do have a question for you first. Do they know you were there the night of the queen's death." Blake didn't say anything, but he already knew. "Well then, let's go tell them."

* * *

"Did anyone see where Blake went?" Yang asked looking around as the girl. Continued down the corridor. "I could've sworn she was behind us."

"Yang, I'm sure she's fine," Ruby said as Yang turned around to look for Blake again. When she turned back around, Yang saw nobody standing in front of her.

"Ha ha, Ruby. Very funny," Yang chuckled as she jogged down the corridor. She didn't get a response as she started running yelling out Ruby's name. "Damn it Ruby, how far did you and Weiss run?"

From behind her, Yang heard the footsteps of a single person approaching. Yang turned around and held her torch up to the darkness.

"Blake, where have you been?" Yang asked as the person came closer. "Ruby and Weiss ran off without me. Where did you…" she trailed off.

From the shadows came a tall woman wearing a set of red and black armor. She had long black hair and red eyes that simply stared at Yang as she approached.

"M-mom?" Yang asked dropping her torch. "Wh-why are you here?"

* * *

"It's almost humorous," Adam said as he dragged Blake by the hair behind him. "You, a friend with the enemy, the princess much less. It's funny how far you've fallen."

"I'm not friends with them," Blake said clawing at Adam's hand only to have him jerk her forward. "We all want to take you and the White Fang down."

"You know for a fact that will never happen," he said as he dragged her into a corridor. "The Schnees will die, their bloodline diminished, and I will end them with my two bare ha-" he then shouted as an arrow suddenly fired into his chest protruding from his back. Then three more arrows fired into his chest.

* * *

"Weiss, what do you think we'll find?" Ruby asked as they both walked down the corridor. Ruby was in front of the princess carrying her crossbow aimed down the corridor.

"I don't know, Ruby," Weiss said flipping through the book trying to decipher the symbols. "I've checked the symbols from the beginning of the corridor with the ones from the walls around here and they both seem to be the same message."

"If we knew the langu-" Ruby said turning back around. As she did an arrow flew through the air and impaled her through the throat.

"Ruby!" Weiss shouted as she started running to her. Before she could reach Ruby, a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "What the?"

"Princess!" a knight in Atlesian armor shouted as he pulled Weiss close. "Thank Oum we found you. Your father sent us across Remnant to search for you."

"You killed her!" Weiss shouted as she pounded the knight's chestplate. "Why did you kill her?!"

"Don't worry miss, we killed your kidnappers," he said gesturing towards another knight carrying Blake who had several arrows in her back. She looked over to another knight who was holding a red headed bull faunus. "That animal took a while before going down."

"Adam?" Weiss asked as she stared at the bull faunus.

"Yes, princess?" Adam asked looking up from the knight's shoulder. He twisted his head slightly and impaled his horns into the knight's neck.

The knight dropped him allowing Adam to land on his feet. He then drew his red sword and swung it once decapitating three knights, including the one holding Weiss.

* * *

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Yang asked Raven as the black haired woman walked over to her. "Where have you been all these years?"

"All in good time," Raven said pressing a hand against Yang's cheek. She then suddenly slapped her throwing her to the ground.

* * *

Yang's eyes opened and she saw she was laying in the middle of the corridor by herself.

"Mom?" Yang asked while looking around.

"Yang?" Ruby asked running over to her sister's side. "Where did you go? The others are missing too."

"I was following you guys, but then you and Weiss ran off," Yang said getting back up. "Where did you guys run off to?"

"Well, you guys disappeared, and then-" Ruby said then turned her head to the side to look down the way she came.

"Ruby, what did I say about running ahead," a voice said running to the sisters. From the shadows came Jaune wearing a sparse suit of armor carrying a sword and shield. "You know I can't run as fast as you."

"Jaune, what are you doing here?" Yang asked him as she stepped in front of Ruby. "We left you back to watch the camp."

"Yes, you did, but when I heard the sounds of a fight, I ran down the stairs," he said holding his shield in front of himself protectively. "The door was down, so it took me a couple minutes to get past the door. Then I had to force the black door open. After a while of running down the corridor I ran into Ruby looking for you guys."

"But the black doors shouldn't have opened unless you fought a statue," Yang said raising her fists. "I just experienced something strange, and I got separated from the others. How do we know you aren't some trick the dungeon made?"

"Yang, what do I have to do to convince you I'm not some trick?" Jaune asked her.

"Tell me something only Jaune would know," Yang demanded her eyes turning red and her hair glowing.

"Uhh, well…" he trailed off. "Are you sure you want me to say this?"

"Say it," she said.

"You have three freckles in a triangle on your behind," Jaune said immediately causing Yang's face to turn red.

"H-how would you know that?!" Yang demanded, embarrassed.

"At Redbarrow, after the night of drinking, you kind of stripped before falling asleep," he said embarrassed. "You didn't warn me so I kind of saw your whole back side."

"F-fine," Yang sputtered as she lowered her fists and her hair stopped glowing and eyes turned back to lilac. "You seem to be real."

"Alright, now can we go look for the others?" Ruby asked when suddenly there was a scream down the corridor. "This way."

The three of them ran down the corridor until they came across Weiss and Blake. Blake was writhing in pain holding her back, and Weiss was screaming as she backed into the wall shakily aiming her rapier in front of her.

"Weiss!" Ruby shouted as she ran to her side. Removing the rapier from her hand, Ruby pulled Weiss into a hug to stop her from moving.

"No, get back!" Weiss shouted trying to hit the air ahead of her. "You killed them."

"Weiss, snap out of it," Ruby holding her tightly. Weiss then shouted and punched Ruby in the chin. "Ok then." In one swift movement, Ruby slapped Weiss across the face.

Weiss was stunned for a second staring into the distance. She then blinked for a couple seconds as she raised her hand to her cheek.

"Did you just slap me?" Weiss asked her as she looked at Ruby. "Wait, didn't you die?"

"No," she answered her.

"No, you got shot in the neck," Weiss said looking at Ruby's throat.

"That was all in your head," Ruby said gesturing all around her. "When we got here, we found you screaming and backing into the wall."

"Wait a second," Yang said as she walked over to Blake. She then slapped her across the face causing Blake to have a similar reaction as Weiss did.

"Why?" Blake asked as she turned her head back to the front with an audible crack.

"Wait, why is Jaune here?" Weiss asked as she looked at him.

* * *

 **Oh yes, illusions and magic. Friends dying and not. That is this dungeon, and also not really. I'll explain in the next chapter.**

 **I figured that the illusions kinda fit in with the characters. Props to anyone who can figure out the kind of demon who lives in this dungeon, hints are in the chapter.**

 **Anyway, I'm a bit tired, so I'm going to be going to bed soon.**

 **TEAM VALOR SHALL RULE THEM ALL! *ahem* I mean, we shall do battle with the utmost civility.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	24. The End of the Dungeon (Updated)

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A, and I'm not dead. I'm sorry this came out a bit later than I would have hoped, but I'm not going to make excuses. I was playing video games, pokemon go, pokemon DnD, reading Angels and Demons, and I've also been doing some stand up comedy (still a bit rusty).**

 **So, who's prepared for the ending to the dungeon arc? Well here it is. I like what I've done, and the ending seems to be quite interesting.**

 **No so I don't spoil anything. REVIEWS!**

 **KibaPT: Yep, I completely agree, but spiders work in a dungeon.**

 **1Fanfanatick: Yes, I do love cliffhangers.**

 **Yaksher: Well then, you should be interested in the ending.**

 **Matt Cyr and DominicGrimm: BRETHREN!**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: You like hitting the nail right on the head, don't you?**

 **FoxyFoxation: Well then...**

 **Random Potato: Thank you. Also, Ruby's scythe kind of doesn't need modifications.**

 **(Vocab) Guest: Yeah, I'm trying to improve my writing.**

 **Nut Lik: Wizard battles comes from my DnD Dungeon Master making a joke about my psychic pyromancer fighting another pyromancer he made. (I kicked his ASS!) Also, FOR THE GLORY OF RED!**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Ok, so I guess it would seem rational that Jaune would be able to come down here," Weiss said after she listened to Ruby and his explanation. "Since there was no more guardian at the door, he didn't have to fight anything to get into the dungeon."

"That's what I've been trying to say here," Jaune said as he threw his hand up in the air in frustration. "Why are you guys so on edge? What happened down here?"

"I don't quite know," Blake said as she looked around them. "One minute I was with the group, then the next I was by myself and had to walk down a dark hallway. While I was down there I was attacked by… something and then dragged away."

"So you're saying there's something here attacking each of us when we're alone?" Jaune asked the faunus somewhat terrified.

"No, I wouldn't describe it like that," she said thinking for a second. "What happened for the rest of you guys?"

"Nothing really," Ruby shrugged. "I was by myself for a little while before I backtracked a bit and ran into Jaune."

"I just made my way down here after I heard fighting," Jaune told her.

"I ended up being by myself," Yang said thinking for a second, "Then my mother showed up and she slapped me throwing me to the ground. Then Ruby and Jaune found me."

"I was walking with Ruby down the hall, until a group of… mercenaries hired by my father came and caught me," Weiss said trying to keep her secret intact.

"Well, considering that nothing serious had actually happened," Blake said thinking. "It seems they were illusions. I guess considering this dungeon has been trying to kill us, we should probably stay on guard."

* * *

"Just how long is this hallway?" Ruby complained as she dragged her feet while the group continued down the path. "We've been walking forever."

"Actually, it's been one hour and seven minutes," Jaune said as he adjusted his shield while walking.

"How do you know the exact time?" Yang asked jogging up to him.

"Well, I'm a bard," he said with a shrug, "While walking, if I'm bored, I'll start playing songs in my head. Since I know how long the songs are, I can tell how long I was walking."

"That seems like a pretty useless talent," Yang remarked much to Jaune's dismay.

"Well, not everyone can just punch everything."

"Well, actually-"

"You know what I meant," he interjected. "Anyway, does it bother anyone that we're probably miles away from the castle ruins."

"This does seem a little suspicious," Blake said stopping, the rest of the group also doing do. "This could be another trick. The best thing we could do is stop and figure out what is happening."

"Everyone take a quick break," Weiss said immediately causing Jaune, Ruby, and Yang to breathe a sigh of relief before sitting down. "Blake, you and I should probably have a look around."

"Yeah, sure," Blake muttered under her breath, "I surely haven't been thrown through a couple pillars just a little while ago?"

"What was that?" Weiss asked as she walked over to the wall carrying her torch.

"Nothing," Blake said as she walked over to the princess.

After a little while, Weiss noticed some markings on the wall. She took out the journal and began flipping through several pages.

"Find something interesting?" Blake asked as she studied the wall carvings.

"Well, sort of," Weiss said as she began comparing the two sets of symbols. "They appear to be the same kind of symbols, but they appear in a different pattern. If any of us were scribes, we could probably figure out the language, if we had a library full of books on ancient language."

" _-temple of Azgragor. From the great magics is the passage of sorrow,"_ Yang said out loud as she ran her finger down the lines of symbols. "Ruby…"

"What is it, Yang?" Ruby asked as she rubbed her sore abdomen.

"Ruby, I think I understand this," Yang told her causing the farm hand to raise an eyebrow.

"What do you mean? I thought you couldn't read."

"I can't," Yang said shaking her head. "For some reason I can read these symbols."

"What was that?" Weiss asked Yang turning her head to the brawler. "You know what they say?"

"Yeah, no, sort of," Yang told her getting up then walking over to the princess. "Remember the symbols I showed you when I was taking your measurements?" she asked, Weiss nodded. "Well, these are the same symbols, but so much more. I can recognize the symbols I write, but the ones I haven't seen before I seem to know automatically."

"Wait, if you can read these," Weiss said as she fumbled with a few pages before handing the journal to Yang, "What does this say?"

"Well, let's see," Yang said taking the book. She scanned the pages, then a minute she closed the book and looked at Weiss. "Basically, what is says is that we have entered the ruins of Azgragor and that there were three challenges we have to go through to survive."

"Three challenges," Jaune said thinking. "So, the guardian, the illusions, and possibly this hallway."

"If that's the case, then we just need to figure out this challenge," Blake said sitting down and rubbing her temples. "Passage of Sorrow. Passage of Sorrow. Any ideas?"

"Nope," Yang said, "I can just read the symbols. Don't expect me to know what the message means."

"Maybe there is something to do with this hallway," Weiss suggested looking around. "It wouldn't make any sense to have a hallway like this, being this long."

"I have an idea," Ruby said then ran forward into the darkness.

"Ruby!" Yang shouted just as she was about to run after her.

"What?" Ruby asked as she ran behind her sister. The four of them turned around in shock as they saw Ruby look around for a second before nodding. "That's what I thought. This hallway isn't very long, it's just repetitive."

"So we've just been walking in circles," Jaune said as he put his head in his palm.

"More of a straight line," Weiss said looking at the walls for any changes in the symbols. "How can we beat this challenge if the magic is just going to bring us back to where we started?"

"We take a left turn," Yang said as she pivoted her body cocking back her arm. Then she thrusted it forward punching the stone wall.

Her fist immediately cracked the wall shattering a small crater. She then punched the wall creating even more cracks in it and enlarging pre-existing ones. After a couple more swings, Yang's fist broke through the stone. She reached into the hole with both hands and pulled sides making it larger. Sure enough, on the other side of the wall was what appeared to be a damp cave with torches lining the walls.

"I don't know how," Weiss said leaning over to look into the hole as Yang kept ripping the wall apart, "but you still manage to surprise me."

"You know, I don't think we were supposed to exit like this," Jaune said as Yang opened the hole in the wall just enough to break through. "But maybe this is a way of doing things. At least you didn't throw a fireball at the wall."

"Hey, I don't even really know how that works," Yang defended herself as the group walked through the hole into the cave.

* * *

"So, we're either outside of the dungeon, or we're in a very old part of it," Blake said as she looked at the cave. "The iron used in the torch handles is already rusted up and covered in rock formation which probably took a couple thousand years to form."

"So, dungeon or not?" Weiss asked her as she walked over to the faunus.

"If I had to guess, I'd say dungeon," Blake said as she ran her fingers over the cave wall. "It seems like there are some scratches here that appear to be the same language as before, but they look hastily scratched in by claws."

"Yang, would you care to translate the demon language?" Jaune asked gesturing towards the wall.

"Yeah, yeah," Yang said as she looked over at the wall. It took her a minute before cocking an eyebrow. "This is different. ' _I am the last. The last of my kind. The great war has left us all but beaten.'_ What great war is this thing talking about?"

"There was a war between the nations a while ago, it could've been that war the wall is talking about," Blake suggested.

"No, that doesn't make much sense," Weiss interjected. "The great war between the nations was only a couple hundred years ago. Maybe there was another war we don't know about."

"Last of his kind…" Yang trailed off as she kept reading on. "Guys, the messages in the temple were more of a grand telling of a temple, whereas this message is more like final words someone writes before their death."

"When did you become so analytical?" Weiss asked her.

"Weiss, just because I can't read doesn't mean I'm stupid," Yang told her as she kept reading on. "It says here that the person writing this is taking shelter in this cave and fears he's going to die. After that the message ends. So what next?"

"I think we should move on," Ruby answered as she drew her crossbow. "We can't go back and I don't think we want to stick around in case monsters like those spiders attack again."

"I agree," Jaune said grabbing the torch from the wall. "The faster we get out of here the better."

* * *

The team made their way through the cave managing to not run into any monsters. They did run into a group of rats that just ran by their feet scaring Weiss. Blake immediately threw her weighted dagger decapitating one of the rats, but then pulled it back before continuing on.

The cave path eventually lead to a large room with what appeared to be a cobblestone path and two fire pits on each side of the path illuminating the room. Jaune took the lead having his shield in front of him after he drew his sword. Yang was standing behind him with her fists raised. Behind her was Weiss, then Blake, and finally Ruby who had her crossbow aimed down the path behind them in case of a surprise attack.

The path eventually led the group to a staircase. On the sides of the staircase were stone pedestals with red fire making the whole area appear in various shades of red. Before the group reached the staircase, they noticed that the path split into three, one leading up the stairs, and two leading down the sides to different halls.

 _ **Who disturbs my slumber?**_

"Please tell me I wasn't the only one who heard that," Weiss said as she looked around for the source of the voice.

"You're not the only one to hear that," Ruby answered immediately in a monotone voice as she squinted down the stairs.

 _ **Intruders, again? Deal with them, my minions.**_

"I do not like the sound of that," Jaune said as all around them the sounds of shuffling could be heard. From around the staircase, undead with glowing blue eyes started coming into the room and began making their way to the staircase.

"Jaune, you're the local undead expert. What are these?" Weiss asked him as the undead approached the beginning of the staircase.

"These aren't zombies nor liches," Jaune told them as he began thinking harder smacking the palm of his hand on his forehead. "Glowing blue eyes, blue eyes, blue eyes." One of the undead raised a black jagged axe in the air which caught Jaune's attention. "That's it! These are draugr! They are the warrior version of zombies, just like liches are the mage."

"How do we survive?" Blake asked him as she drew her katana.

"It's a lot easier than surviving a lich," he told her as he jumped off the side of the staircase bashing his shield on a draugr's head as he landed. "Fight them!"

"Oh great," Ruby said as she fired off a crossbow bolt hitting a draugr in the head before it could get to the staircase. "Yang, Blake, you two go on the other side and take care of those draugr. Weiss, help Jaune."

"What about you?" Yang asked her.

Ruby fired off another arrow. "I'll stay up here and help you guys as well as I can."

"Heads up," Weiss called as she jumped down toward Jaune. He raised his shield giving her a platform to land on. She jumped down and did three quick strikes stabbing through three different draugrs' heads.

Yang jumped off the staircase and punched the ground as she landed. When she made the impact, a wave of fire blasted from the ground burning through several draugr. Blake landed behind Yang and lunged forward cutting through several more.

Ruby continued to fire off several crossbow bolts keeping the undead off of the staircase. Just as she was reaching for another bolt, she grasped at air. Realizing the pouch she brought with was empty, Ruby secured the crossbow to her belt then drew her scythe. She ran down the staircase and swung Crescent Rose, cutting through the closest draugr.

"Jaune, why would you just jump down here?" Weiss asked him as she used her rapier to block one of the draugrs' axes. "You are just a bard."

"I told you before," Jaune said raising his shield to block an ace. Then he slashed under the shield, cutting through the draugr's knees. He slashed back, cutting through one draugr's body and another's head before stomping down one the knee-less one's head. "I was trained by a knight."

He spun around and bashed his shield into another draugr's head, effectively crushing it. He then cut another draugr in half before hitting it's torso with his shield throwing it into the group of undead. After that, he spun around and delivered a powerful downward strike to another draugr's head cutting it down to the ribs before pulling out his sword and stabbing another undead's head through its jaw.

 _ **Disappointing.**_ The voice echoed throughout the cave causing the draugr to cower slightly. From down the stairwell path came an angry roar. A larger heavily armored draugr came lumbering out of the darkness wielding a greatsword and began walking towards Ruby.

"Jaune, what is this?" Ruby asked getting a better grip on Crescent Rose as the Draugr close to the stairs began walking backwards away from this new draugr.

"A big one, I don't know," Jaune told her as he kicked another nearby draugr to get it away from him. "You might need to fight it, these aren't letting up at all."

"Hold on, Ruby, I'm coming!" Yang shouted as she charged into the group of draugr only to have them push her back to the smouldering circle she had created with Blake.

"Yang, I'll be fine," Ruby told her sister as she stepped back a bit as the large draugr came closer to her. "You guys take down those things, I'll handle this one."

The large draugr charged at Ruby swinging in a downward strike. Ruby raised Crescent Rose and blocked the blade with her own. She redirected the sword off to the side, and with the momentum, spun around and struck the draugr on its side cutting partway into its ribs. The draugr simply roared and backhandedly punched Ruby in the face. It then swung its greatsword at Ruby hitting her in the abdomen, but instead of it throwing her, she grabbed it and rode the blade through the swing allowing her to land back on the staircase behind the draugr now. She then kicked it in the back throwing it part way down the stairs. After that, Ruby jumped at it swinging her scythe downward impaling the undead in the leg.

The large draugr roared and twisted its body to swing its sword at Ruby catching her at her knees causing her to fall on her back. The scythe was still impaling the draugr's leg, so Ruby pulled it out before rolling back up the stairs and standing back up. Just as the draugr began picking itself up, Ruby sprinted the short distance between them and kicked it in the chest throwing the undead down the rest of the way. By the time Ruby had straightened herself and ran down the stairs, the draugr had stood back up and was standing in the middle of a large circle of undead.

Ruby sprinted at the draugr prompting it to prepare for a downward strike. Just before the strike would hit Ruby, she planted one foot to her side to bolt suddenly to the left avoiding the greatsword. After she avoided the strike, she planted her left foot down and bolted to the right tackling the draugr. While she and the draugr were falling, Ruby rolled off the undead landing her feet down on the ground while it landed on its back. Ruby then delivered another downward strike to the draugr's head effectively killing it.

Ruby removed Crescent Rose's blade from the undead's head and rested the shaft on her shoulder before turning to the rest of the undead. The remaining draugr were silent as they watched Ruby. Then they made the wise decision and retreated back into their corridors leaving the group of five unharmed.

"That's my baby sister!" Yang exclaimed as she ran over and gave Ruby a hug. She then picked up the draugr's greatsword with one hand and inspected it. "Cool sword, I wonder what it's made of."

"That was impressive," Blake remarked as she carefully stepped around the bodies on the floor. "And apparently that was the alpha of the group, so we may not need to worry about the voice."

 _ **You may approach.**_

"J'vana be damned," Blake cursed under her breath.

"Well then, we have two choices: go up the stairs and face the owner of the voice, or we can go down the two side tunnels and fight the undead," Weiss said as she and Jaune approached the remaining three. "I don't know which is better."

"Draugr mostly spend time in their tombs, so the two side tunnels probably are just a connecting tomb," Jaune said as he looked at the large draugr. "This guy seems more like a guard, so since we can't exactly go back, that means that there is only one way to go."

"As much as I'd hate to do it, that's probably the best plan of action," Blake said as she sheathed her katana.

"Let's do it," Ruby said as she started walking up the stairs with the rest of the group behind her.

As they went up the stairs, they entered an ascending tunnel with blue flaming torches on the wall. After a couple minutes of walking up the stairs, the tunnel walls started to change into the same pattern as the temple's walls. A few more minutes later the tunnel started to get wider and wider until the tunnel was large enough for Ruby to be able to sprint across with ease. Then they came across a large black stone door with two torches on the side with golden flames.

"Well, this seems important," Yang said as she approached the door. "It's the same kind of door as the one with the dungeon guardians. If I remember correctly, Blake put her hand on the door and then the statue came to life. Since I don't see any statues around, I think it's ok." She placed her hand on the door causing a red pulse to spread over the door from her hand. Suddenly there was a humming that filled through the air, then the red pulse went back over the door to Yang's hand and sent a jolt of electricity into her arm. "Damn!"

"Ok, so it won't exactly work like before," Weiss said as she walked over to the door. She then walked over to the side of the door and noticed more symbols. "And that's what we've been missing. Yang, the dead language translator, care to tell us what this says?"

"Sure, fine, whatever," Yang said as she walked over to Weiss and began reading. " _Only the permitted can approach._ That was actually simple."

"But I thought the voice told us we could approach," Jaune said as he began walking over to the door only to have Blake grab his arm.

"Obviously the door wasn't told," Blake said pulling him back.

"Maybe…" Ruby said looking at her hand while curling her fingers. Before the rest of them could react, Ruby jogged over to the door and pressed her palm against the stone. The red pulse originated from her hand and went over the door, just as it did for Yang. Then the red pulse came back to Ruby's hand, but instead of a jolt of electricity, the pulse spread over Ruby's body causing any red part of her to glow for a second before fading. The door made a sharp jerk forward, then slowly opened. "Huh, I was permitted."

Alright then, after you," Weiss said in slight disbelief.

Ruby walked through the door with the rest of them just in time to avoid the door closing on them. The room they entered was a giant dark room with the only illuminated area being a raised platform in the middle of the room. On the middle platform was a man, sort of.

He seemed to be only skin and bones with long arms and fingers. He was wearing a long black tattered skirt. On his shoulders were grey metal pauldrons, and he was wearing a large grey helmet that covered his eyes and had two curved horns leading down his cheek. The most distinctive feature he had was the eight giant spider legs sticking out from his back, that and the fact that he was floating off the ground.

"So, another red one comes to visit me," the man said, his voice sounding rasp. "Three hundred and seventy-six years since I had worshipers, and the only two people to pass the test were red." He floated around the platform in the same kind of action like pacing as the group cautiously approached. "Tell me child, why are you here?"

"We are here for infor-" Weiss said before the floating man suddenly jerked towards her shooting out his finger.

"I WAS TALKING TO THE RED ONE!" he roared as he ran his claw like nail across her neck. "The red one is worthy of talking to me, Miss Weiss, not you."

"How did you know her name?" Ruby asked him causing the man to turn to her and smile, at least, the best he could since his skin seemed to be pulled tight over his bones.

"How did I know?" he asked floating away from them. "I know about you all. The yellow one likes to punch things in the face, but is a wandering soul, always searching for something, or someone. The ninja has quite the past. She's been all over, and she harbors quite the secret. The bard here likes to play knight and be a hero, but he fears he will never make his song. And the red one is particularly interesting, but the white one, you would not believe the secrets she has." He floated back to face them. "I know your fears, all that you don't want your friends to know." He floated to Yang then put his mouth next to her ear and whispered, "You fear being alone, but not just that, the fear of your sister leaving you behind." He then floated to Blake and did the same. "You fear what demons your past will bring up. Someone… red." Then he went to Jaune. "I think we both know what your real… demon is." He repeated the process to Weiss. "You, Miss Schnee, have a very long list of fears, some of them are reasonable. Like your fear of a teammate."

His smile faded as he faced Ruby. "You are an interesting one, child. You have normal fears, and then a couple interesting ones." He bent over to look her in the eyes, despite the fact his eyes were blocked. Then he formed another smile. "The one thing you fear is… yourself."

"What? What do you mean?" Ruby asked him somewhat surprised.

"You fear your ability to kill," he said then chuckled a bit. "Ever since you were younger, you realized your potential to kill. You know how well you can fight something in combat, taking on several trained knights by yourself. You personally don't like killing ever since an incident when you were younger, but that has never stopped you from slaughtering hordes of grimm. You know what you can do, and it scares you." He floated away from her and chuckled. "I know what you search for. Secrets the other red one was searching for."

"Can you tell us?" Ruby asked him.

The man chuckled, then turned his head to the group. "No." He let out a cruel laugh. "The red one was searching for secrets that could help my kind. Thousands of years being in the shadows, and then we can go into the light, for all the world to see."

"You're a demon," Jaune said pointing a finger at him.

"Really? What gave it away?" he asked Jaune. "Was it the lack of muscle and dry skin? Or was it the spider legs or the fact that I am floating? Yes, I am a demon. One of the last of my kind left alive after the great war. The only one with the information the other red one was searching for. Prepare yourselves for fall of humanit-" He was about to finish that sentence, but he was cut off by Ruby lunging forward and decapitating the floating demon. It's body fell onto the ground with an echoing thud.

"You were wrong, I'm not afraid of myself and what I can do," Ruby said as she twirled Crescent Rose around before securing it to her back. "I'm afraid of not being able to make the world a better place. Guys, let's get out of here."

"Yes, let's," Jaune said sheathing his sword.

As soon as he finished, from the shadows came the distinct sounds of large spiders. Moments later, a group of ten spiders emerged from the shadows, and one large scorpion for some reason (*Cough* FoxyFoxation).

"Oh no, not again," Yang groaned as she prepared the greatsword she lifted off the draugr earlier.

Yang immediately charged at the spiders and swung her greatsword cutting though three of them. Weiss lunged forward and stabbed a spider in the head before pulling the sword out and struck another one. Blake drew her katana and began slicing through the spiders. The three of them cut through the remaining spiders until the scorpion was the last one remaining. Ruby simply delivered a powerful downward strike cutting though its head.

"You know, this seems a lot easier than it was before," Yang said as she tossed her greatsword in the air before catching it by the handle with ease. "This sword seems so cool. I'm going to hate it when I melt this down later."

"Well, I vote we leave here as soon as possible," Jaune said as he began walking towards the back of the room. "The whole magic thing was a real surprise today though, just like Yang being able to read the demon language."

"Wait," Ruby said causing everyone to stop, "Jaune, there is something off with you."

"What do you mean?" he asked with a nervous chuckle as he turned around.

"You know stuff you shouldn't have," Ruby told him. "You knew about Yang's magic before we could even have a chance to tell you, and you even knew what language the symbols were before anyone could've figured out what it was. You also appeared out of nowhere almost like the illusions we experienced before."

"What are you suggesting?" Jaune asked her. "That I'm not Jaune Arc, the bard."

"Well, kinda," Ruby said. "You also were an awfully good fighter despite being a bard for most of your life and having minimal training as a knight. The demon here was able to read our minds, and I think maybe it wasn't the only one."

"Ruby, come on," Jaune said turning to the other girls, "You guys don't really believe this, right?"

"Now that you think about it, he does seem pretty suspicious," Yang said grabbing the greatsword handle with both hands.

"He did show up out of nowhere," Blake said wrapping her hand around the handle of her katana.

"I have to agree with them," Weiss said getting into the combat stance with her rapier. "Now, what are you?"

"Oh, hohoho," Jaune chuckled. "Aha, hahahaha. You girls are good. I almost had you. The plan was moving very well until you just had to spoil it." He walked onto the illuminated platform and kicked the demon's head off into the shadows. "The thing about this temple, or dungeon as you call it, is that it has two purposes. The first is that it can serve as a house of worship for people, and the second is that it serves as a prison for the two demons who created it to protect them." He stepped off the platform and walked towards the girls causing them the back up slightly. "You see, several thousand years in this cave can cause any being to go crazy. I was sick of living here, but this little shit," he kicked the demon's lifeless corpse, "just kept saying that we would get more worshipers if we kept waiting, but that never happened, nor did I care. The only way for a demon to leave is to be taken out willingly by humans, but the only way for that to happen is to trick them. Now that you found out what I am, I HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE NEXT GROUP OF FUCKING IDIOTS!"

"Not if there was no demon left," Yang said causing Jaune to hang his head down and chuckle.

"Of course this is what it had to come to," he said drawing his longsword, "a show of mettle. So be it."

He lunged forward at Yang swinging his sword only to have her block with the greatsword. Before Blake could attack him with her katana, Jaune turned his shield to block the blade. He dragged his sword across the greatsword at Blake, only to have her wrap her kusarigama's chain around the longsword and redirect it. Weiss lunged into the battle only to have Jaune bash the edge of his shield into her abdomen knocking the wind out of her and causing her to fall on the ground.

Ruby ran forward swinging her scythe upward, but Jaune turned his shield slightly to block the blade's point. He was thrown back from the impact causing his feet so slide across the floor, but not fall over. She was about to swing her scythe at him, but Jaune turned his shield to his left in time to block the blade. He shifted his feet allowing him to be pushed by Ruby and ride out the swing so he stopped behind her. He then took the opportunity and swung his sword. He hit her shoulder throwing the girl into the ground.

Ruby spun on the ground and used her legs to give her a lift. She landed on the ground and swung Crescent Rose at him, which he blocked easily. Then he swung his sword directly at Ruby. She had just enough time to react, so she raised the shaft of her scythe just enough to block the sword. The sword imbedded itself into the wooden shaft a decent amount before getting stuck. Ruby then pulled the scythe back pulling the sword from Jaune's hand. She was going to swing at him a second time, but Jaune blocked it by catching it with his right hand. He then bashed the edge of his shield into the shaft of the scythe breaking it in half throwing Jaune's sword off to the side.

Ruby took a second to realize what had happened, but then her expression hardened as she changed her stance. She held her half scythe with her left hand and she used it to hook Jaune's sword and tossed it into the air. Jaune was about to shield bash her again, but Ruby caught the shield hit her scythe and twisted his whole body to the right. Ruby then caught Jaune's sword with her right hand and she took her chance to strike Jaune's side. She cut just under his ribs on his back.

Jaune turned around and punched Ruby in the abdomen before shield bashing her hitting her face. He spun around and kicked Ruby in the face. After that he followed through by hitting her sides with his shield's edge. He then kicked her in the back throwing her away from him.

He ran directly at her, so Ruby jumped in the air and pivoted her body. As she landed, Ruby wrapped her arms around herself keeping the blade of her scythe pointed inward. Jaune was in front of her, so she swung both weapons. He managed to block the scythe with his shield, but Ruby angled the sword cutting from his jaw to the top of his ear.

After his body fell onto the ground, Ruby let out a huge breath as she fell to her knees. She let go of Jaune's sword and began to look at Crescent Rose. She held both halves to the shaft and looked as though she was going to start to cry.

"Don't worry Ruby, we can make you a new shaft," Yang said walking over to her sister and placed her hand on her shoulder.

"No, the shaft of Crescent Rose was made from northern Mistralian axe breaker wood," Ruby said cradling her weapon. "I had to beg dad for three months to order that wood, and even then it took seven weeks to shape into a scythe shaft to fit Crescent Rose's blade."

"What if we made you a different shaft that won't break," Yang suggested.

"Fine."

"Alright, but first we need to get out of here," Yang said helping her sister up to her feet. "Anyone know how we can get out of here?"

"Jaune was heading that way before we found out what he was," Blake said pointing into the darkness.

"Well then, let's get out of here," Weiss groaned as she started walking out of the dungeon followed by the rest of them.

* * *

Jaune had a peaceful day. After the girls left to go into the dungeon, he decided to get some work done. He started to make food, but stopped shortly after he accidentally dropped his bread and dried meat into the campfire. Then he picked up Yang's remaining daggers and practiced throwing them at an arrow target left in the courtyard. He missed just about every shot, but he did manage to embed the butt of the dagger into the edge of the target.

Then he decided to take care of the horses, which also proved interesting. Clovis and Nightmare were pretty docile. Chestnut was constantly jumping out of the stable and running around the courtyard. Bumblebee would randomly whinny or snort, which would cause the other horses to turn away from her, or during one situation, Chestnut kicked her in her left thigh. At one point, Bumblebee whinnied then bit Jaune's head causing him to fall backwards and pull out some hair. Every time Jaune tried to approach Snowflake, she would simply turn her head and walk away.

So Jaune decided it was best to just sit down next to the fire and practice his songs. He got a decent amount of time in before the castle doors were suddenly thrown open and the girls exited.

"Oh, hey guys," Jaune said as he stumbled off his chair and approached the girls. "What happened in there?" Blake didn't answer, she just walked past Jaune and sat down at the fire. "Ok then, Weiss, what happened down there? Is that a scar?" he asked her gesturing to the scar over her left eye she got from the guardian statue that healed from her magic. She glanced in his direction before turning her head and sitting down at the fire. "Fine then. Yang, what happened down there, and what is with the big sword?" Yang sighed as she let the greatsword drag behind her as she walked over to the campfire. "Ok, not much for talking, I get that. Ruby, what happened to your scythe?"

Ruby was still carrying the pieces of her scythe and looking like she was about to cry. She then looked at Jaune and made a teary eyed glare at him. "How could you?"

"What did I do?!" Jaune practically shouted as Ruby walked over to the campfire and sat down.

* * *

 **Yes, I did that. What, did you think that Jaune would suddenly just get to be that badass? I just wanted to make an interesting twist, plus, did you really think that I would just have him show up.**

 **Anyway, yes, I also broke Crescent Rose. I wanted to have a setup for the next chapter.**

 **I think I did a pretty good job with the fear demon. He's also based off of the fear demon in Dragon Age Inquisition. Also I don't know why but the sentence, "I WAS TALKING TO THE RED ONE!" makes me laugh.**

 **So, I'm currently at my old set up back at my parents house due to me visiting for a couple of days, and I should probably head to bead so I don't sleep through the whole day and piss my dad off.**

 **(update)**

 **I knew I forgot to write something up here because Sassy Guest was immediately on me. Yes, I kind of made Ruby a bit more of a badass than how it was originally. To be completely honest I did have a big fight between the girls and demon Jaune (forgot to clarify, he's a shapeshifter demon), but because I was so dead set on posting that last night before I went to bed, I just went ahead and had Ruby fight him. So, Sassy Guest, I'm sorry I kind of threw the balance of power at the wall, but I did what I needed to so I could go to bed. Don't worry, with Crescent Rose broken, she'll have an interesting time dealing with enemies, which are coming sooner than you think.**

 **Here's a hint for the next couple chapters: What would make an interesting circus sideshow? Maybe a sword in the stone, or perhaps, a hammer?**

 **(End update)**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	25. Back to Redbarrow

**Hello everyone, J. Van A here back from the three weeks I think it was since my last update. I'm sorry this one was late, but I started college so my schedule's pretty busy. I do have fridays through mondays off, so that's nice.**

 **Anyway, this chapter isn't as long as the last few that I did, but it is back to the length of the previous ones.**

 **So, onto reviews.**

 **Starting off is (Sassy) Guest: Yes, I know I kind of messed up by making Ruby OP, but I did originally plan to have a long fight between the team and the demons, but I really wanted to post the chapter and get out of the dungeon soon, so yeah.**

 **Nut lik: Yes there are going to be some references to Skyrim throughout this series. I recently got back into the game and started a new character who only uses one axe and wears a hooded monk robe. I did also make a slight reference to Skyrim concerning the gold pouches. Also, I was bored and started trying to make cool sounding names when I made Azgragor, it might be referenced somewhere else, I don't know.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Yay, I found someone else who plays D &D. I haven't really played a regular campaign, but Pokemon D&D is really fun considering I now ride my Aerodactyl, and I'm apparently the team's medic.**

 **Enjoy,**

* * *

"Can someone please tell me what happened down there?" Jaune asked as he tried to approach the girls only to have Ruby shoot him a death glare. "What did I do? I was up here the whole time."

"You didn't do anything," Blake said as she leaned backwards off of her log lowering herself onto the ground. "We fought a demon that looked like you and ended up breaking Ruby's scythe in half."

"I think we could've taken him," Yang said as she leaned against the black greatsword that she had stabbed into the ground. "He only threw Weiss into the ground. Blake and I were just fine, but Ruby kinda threw him off to the side and fought him herself."

"So can you guys tell me all of what happened please?" Jaune asked them now even more confused.

* * *

"Ok, so let me get this straight," Jaune said trying to process what the girls had told him. "The dungeon under the castle is a demon temple. You guys had to fight a statue, which is why Weiss now has a scar, but it healed due to magic, which both Weiss and Yang can do now. Yang is able to read an ancient language. You guys had to outsmart illusions, then fight a group of draugr. Ruby killed two demons, and then got her scythe broken. Then you guys managed to get out."

"Yeah, that's basically what happened," Yang answered him.

"So, what we should do next is get back to Redbarrow and find the land's lord to tell him the 'evil force' has been destroyed," Weiss said as she stretched and yawned. "But first, we should rest."

"I second that," Yang yawned then slumped against the greatsword and closed her eyes almost immediately snoring.

"How is she able to do that?" Jaune asked looking over to Ruby for an answer only to find her asleep on the ground with her broken scythe in her arms using her cloak as a blanket. "Blake?" He turned to where the faunus was sitting was only to find her curled up on the ground in a circle. "And I guess that makes me on watch duty again," he said picking up a longbow and some arrows that had been left on the ground and made his way to the wall.

* * *

"Jaune, is something wrong?" Yang asked as she noticed that he had been silent for the entire road trip thus far.

"Just let me rest," Jaune groaned through Clovis's fur. "You guys didn't wake up to take over a watch, and any time I tried, you would hit me. So I didn't get any sleep."

"Well, either way, we're here," Yang said causing Jaune to look up and see the town of Redbarrow in front of them. "You guys can go get the award from the local lord, I'll take Jaune back to the inn and rent us some rooms."

"Alright, we'll be back soon," Weiss said as she turned Snowflake in the direction of the town's fort. Blake and Ruby then followed Weiss leaving Yang and Jaune by themselves. "So, all we need to do is meet with the lord and collect our reward for clearing out the dungeon."

* * *

The lord's home was a large manor atop a hill overlooking the town. Ruby was surprised by the sheer size of the manor considering that it was larger than Fort Signal back home on Patch. Weiss and Blake weren't as surprised by the manor due to the fact that they had seen the Schnee's castle back in Atlas. As they walked to the wall's gate, the girls were stopped by two knights in full plate armor wielding halberds.

"Halt," the first knight said, "What is your business here?"

"We're adventurers who have cleared out the dungeon, as per request of the lord," Weiss told them causing both knights to exchange glances before looking back at the three.

"The lord is a busy man," the second knight said to them. "What proof do you have that you actually went to the ruins and destroyed the evil."

"Well," Blake said ruffling through her belongings, "we have a journal that was written by a blacksmith of the castle with runes of a demonic language written by us. Also to be more specific, we fought many draugr, spiders, a fear demon, and eventually a shapeshifter demon."

"And where is this journal?" the knight asked getting annoyed.

"It was here," Blake said then looked at Weiss, "Did you forget to hand it back?"

"Right," Weiss said then went to the bag on her belt and pulled out the journal. "While we were riding I was trying to study the language a bit more." She handed it off to the guard and he read it for a moment before flipping through the pages reaching the demon runes.

"Let them through," he said handing Weiss the book back. "Make it fast, the lord is… interesting to say the least."

"What did he mean by that?" Ruby asked as the three entered the courtyard.

* * *

"Well, the guard was right," Ruby said cringing slightly as they entered the lord's office.

The lord was a pudgy man wearing very flamboyant outfit. His shirt was a bright blue, and his tight pants were a red silk. He even wore a purple coat that looked even more out of place than the rest of his outfit. He was wearing an obvious wig that Weiss recognized as an Atlesian wig mostly sold to nobles back there, so it meant that he had it imported. Aside from that he had a thin moustache.

As soon as he spotted the girls, the man smiled a huge grin. He then started to walk towards them with a very flamboyant walk. "Welcome, welcome!" he exclaimed as he threw his hands in the air causing the girls to swear they saw sparkles around his face. "So, I hear you're the ones that took out those nasty, nasty demons."

"Uhhh…" Ruby trailed off as she looked at the man.

"Yes," Weiss answered him slightly phased by his enthusiasm, "Us and two friends cleared out the dungeon. It was difficult, but we succeeded."

"Excellent, excellent!" the pudgy man exclaimed as he walked over to the back of the room and opened a door beckoning for them to follow. They did following him into an empty room with a steel door on the other side guarded by two more soldiers. "Open the door, young men, I wish to enter my vault." The soldiers exchanged glances for a second before opening the door. The lord pranced into the vault and started loudly humming a tune to himself. A moment later he came out of the room carrying five sacks of gold coins. He then pranced out of the vault and handed the bags to the three girls. "This should be a substantial award for your service. Now, I know that you would just _love_ to spend the day here in my manor, but I am a very busy man. One of my men will escort you out."

He turned to the guards causing them to exchange a glance. They then did a quick game of Rock-Paper-Scissors resulting in the knight on the left losing with scissors and the one on the right chuckling to himself. "Dean, always with the scissors," he said as the left knight walked towards the door gesturing for the girls to follow.

* * *

"So," Ruby said as the three girls started walking towards the inn where Yang and Jaune were, "With the addition of all these coins that the guy gave us, and the ones we had starting out, how are we capable of concealing all these coins?"

"Ruby, what do you mean?" Weiss asked her as they stood in front of the door.

"Well, I had a couple hundred coins to begin with, now after adding these coins to my pouch, it theoretically shouldn't be possible for me to have this pouch be this small," she said gesturing to the pouch on her side which was clearly smaller than the sacks of money. "It just doesn't make much sense considering the gold coin's size."

"Ruby, don't question it," Blake said taking out her book and began reading it as they walked into the building. She then walked over to a table and sat down. "This is probably another situation of J'vana intervening." She paused for a second before looking around. "Where's Yang?"

"Help," a voice said from above the inn. Nearly everyone looked up and saw Jaune completely tied up in ropes hanging from the chandelier.

"Jaune? What happened?" Ruby asked him looking up at the bard.

"Uhh, your sister likes practical jokes," Jaune explained as he struggled against the ropes. "Can someone get me down?"

Before anyone could even say anything, Blake grabbed a knife from the table and flicked it up in the air. The knife travelled upward and stabbed the knot holding him to the chandelier cutting straight through the rope. Jaune immediately fell onto the floor of the inn still tied up.

"Thanks," Jaune wheezed out as he rolled over. "Can someone untie me?"

"Hey, Weiss, look at this," Ruby said as she walked over to the inn's wall and pulled a paper from it. In her hand was a flyer with bright colors and images of tents. Plastered on the top of the flyer were the words, 'Valean Circus.' "Can we go?"

"Ruby, I think it would be best if we didn't because we have to get moving as soon as possible to find more leads on the White Fang," Weiss told her as she took the flyer and hanged it back on the wall.

"But Weiss," Ruby whined as the older girl turned away from her.

"You know," Blake interjected looking up from her book, "a little break wouldn't hurt. After all, we had to deal with undead, then moving statues, giant spiders, more undead, and then demons."

"It doesn't matter," Weiss told her. "The White Fang has a giant lead on us, and we learned too little from the dungeon."

Suddenly, the inn's door opened to reveal a Yang carrying the broadsword she brought from the dungeon. "I'd hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we can't go anywhere for a while. With Ruby's scythe being broken, she'll be a liability in a fight. I've talked with the local blacksmith and he's allowed me to use his forge for a couple days. So until then we're stuck here."

"You planned this, didn't you?" Weiss asked Yang narrowing her eyes. "You saw the sign for the circus and wanted to go."

"There's a what now?" Yang asked looking around till she saw the flyer. "Huh, hey, Ruby, there's a carnival just outside of town. Hey, Weiss, you guys should go. Ruby can help me in the forge remake the shaft of her scythe, then she can go to the circus while I do the long boring part of blacksmithing."

Weiss let out a quiet agitated groan as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fine, we can go to the carnival."

Ruby immediately brightened up. "Thank you!" she exclaimed as she shot forward pulling Weiss in a hug.

"Can someone please untie me?" Jaune asked as he struggled against his bindings. "I can't feel my legs."

"Wait, you still didn't get out of those?" Yang asked as she looked over Jaune.

"It's not my fault you're crazily stronger than a gorilla," he quickly retorted.

Yang immediately grabbed her greatsword and placed the tip right next to Jaune's head. "Care to repeat that?" He immediately shook his head. "Well, good." With one swift movement she cut several of the ropes leading down his back.

* * *

 **And that's a wrap. I know this chapter wasn't really that great, but its now setting up the next few chapters.**

 **Anyway, I'm going to go play some video games. I haven't really played them that much in the past three weeks.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	26. The Circus and Cliche Villains

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the latest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. I actually released this before three weeks, surprisingly. I do have a lot of stuff going on with college and other things, like stand up comedy, which I also haven't gone to much since school started, but I am going this week after I figure out my bit.**

 **So yeah, Yang isn't going to be in the next few chapters, just so you guys know. This is a relatively short chapter, but it does cover some more plot.**

 **Here's a quick game for you guys, figure out the next characters I'm bringing in.**

 **On to the reviews:**

 **imoshen88: Don't worry, I actually plan to do some stuff to have White Rose fluff in the next few chapters. In case I don't, I'm sorry.**

 **KibaPT: Oh yeah, Jaune is not going to have an easy time in the future.**

 **(Sassy) Guest: Yet again, I needed to get the plot going. It's in the past, now on to the future.**

 **Akuma-Heika: I actually have met a couple angry drunks. My brother can be one at times, but only as one of the three versions of drunk him. There is the happy him, angry him, and the version of him that loves... well, I can't exactly say that on here. One time he actually threw me into a wall when he was drunk. Threw me. I'm not exactly a light person.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Ruby, can you please calm down?" Weiss asked as she grabbed the farm hand by the edge of her cloak in order to keep her from running off. "We agreed to go there together, and I'm pretty sure Jaune, Blake, and I can't run that fast."

"Well, hurry up," Ruby whined as she grabbed Weiss's hand and tried to pull the other girl further along.

"Feel free to go ahead," Blake said with a chuckle as she watched the two struggle. "I'm in no hurry to get there, Jaune can keep me company on the walk."

"Alright," Ruby smiled as she started to run ahead dragging Weiss closely behind.

"And now we can take our time," Blake said slowing down with Jaune looking at her confused.

"So, why aren't you more excited to get there?" Jaune asked slowing down to her pace.

"Well, I never really liked circuses," Blake said adjusting her cloak.

"What, why? Carnivals are fun. Do you not like clowns?"

"No, it's not that," Blake said rubbing her shoulder. "I just don't like the circus."

* * *

"Ruby! We're here! You can stop running!" Weiss nearly shouted at the girl as they ran down the path. The girl then stopped in the middle of the path before running into a carnival worker.

"What are you doing here?" the worker asked turning to the two girls, his dog ears on top his head twitched slightly from a loud crash coming from a nearby tent. "The shows aren't happening for a few more hours." That immediately caused Ruby to freeze up and look at Weiss.

"Uhh, well, there should be other things going on," Weiss said to her trying to unfreeze the girl.

"You could go meet the acts, or you could try your hand at picking up the hammer," the worker suggested to them as he started to get back to work.

"What hammer?" Weiss asked him just as Ruby started to unfreeze.

"Oh, yes," the worker said turning back from his work. "The hammer is said to be an ancient artifact given to the people of Remnant from the forges of the gods, said to hold immeasurable power."

"Or it could just be a hammer," Weiss muttered to herself.

"But," the worker interjected snapping Ruby to attention, "it is said that the hammer can only be picked up by one who is worthy. Now, I have a question, are you worthy? If you think you are, then go find out, and let me get back to work before Mr. Kane finds me not working."

"Who is Mr. Kane?" Ruby asked him.

"He-" the man said then suddenly cringed as he curled back slightly.

"He owns the place," a new man said walking towards the girls. He was wearing a black jacket and a top hat, but what stood out the most was this thin moustache. He then twirled his hand in the air and did a little bow to the girls just as the worker stopped cringing and started breathing heavily. "Balo Kane, at your service."

"Uhh, is he ok?" Ruby asked looking to the worker who was limping off.

"Yes, I'm sure it's fine," Balo said giving her a smile. "The workers can be like that sometimes. It's nothing to worry about. In the meantime before the shows, I suggest that you take a look around the carnival. See the fortune teller, try your luck at some games, attempt to pick up the enchanted hammer, or you could even see the sideshow." He did another flamboyant bow. "Now, I have a circus to attend to, ladies. Now, I bid you, adieu." With that, he walked away towards the large tent.

"That certainly was, strange," Weiss said looking at Ruby.

"Yeah," Ruby said looking around, "Well, let's go look at that warhammer, I guess."

* * *

"Oh no," Blake said placing her face in the palm of her hand as she and Jaune walked by some of the carnival's faunus workers. "It's one of _those_ carnivals."

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked her looking around the carnival. "What's wrong?"

"This circus is using faunus labor," Blake said in mild annoyance as her ears flattened down forward on her head.

"Well, I guess that would be a good thing," Jaune suggested. "At least they aren't being forced to work on farms like other faunus are."

"It's not that simple," Blake said looking to the sky with a glare.

"I know with you being a faunus, this seems wrong to you, and I hate how things are here, but that's how Vale works in some places," Jaune said to her causing her to drop her head.

"It's _not_ that simple," Blake growled at him. "The person who owns this place bought these people as _slaves_." She let that linger for a second before continuing. "The slavers use a sort of binding magic to keep their cargo obedient. A simple spell that can be activated by thought by the owner to cause major pain to the slave until the owner deactivates the spell. With that the owners can have free and effective labor while they do business."

"Oh."

"These monsters take people from their homes and force them into slavery, and people call grimm the monsters."

Jaune was quiet for a while resting his chin in his hand. "Maybe there is something we can do to help them," he suggested causing Blake to be taken aback for a second. "You said there was a form of binding magic, well maybe there is a way to remove it."

"There is… one way," Blake said to him. "The magic is a sigil painted on some body part. When the obedience part of the spell is activated, the sigil creates pain to the body, but the sigil itself is fragile. It is a simple tattoo placed on skin. If the sigil is broken in any way, the spell is broken."

"Ok, so all we would have to do is cut the sigil and the workers would be free," Jaune suggested to her.

"Yet again, not that simple," Blake said again. "How the magic works is that when a sigil is broken, the owner immediately knows. Considering the amount of people working for this carnival, if one sigil is broken, the owner can order the others to attack the ones breaking sigils. I don't know about you, but I don't want to fight a couple hundred people."

"Then what can we do?"

"Nothing," Blake said to him as her face made a sad expression. "This is one of the reasons the White Fang first started. They would come to places like these with numbers to cut sigils fast and rescue people, but that changed when their activities turned dark."

"Well, should we go then?" he asked her, prepared to go back to the town.

"As much as I'd like to, no," Blake said leaning on a nearby post. "Ruby was so excited to come here, I'd hate to ruin it for her by not being here with her."

* * *

"This is so cool!" Ruby exclaimed as she looked at the hammer.

It wasn't that interesting. The head of the warhammer was quite large, made out of pretty high quality metal, as was the shaft. There appeared to be some leather wrapped around various parts of the shaft, but they withered away over time.

"That just looks like a regular hammer," Weiss said as she inspected the hammer.

"Yeah, but it's made of metal I've never seen before, and it looks like it's never been moved, ever," Ruby said walking to the shaft of the hammer. "Also, you heard the worker. Maybe this hammer does have magical powers."

"Yeah, yeah, created by gods, sent down to Remnant," Weiss said as she rolled her eyes a bit. "But the big thing was that only a worthy one could pick up the hammer."

"Well, remember in the dungeon, I apparently was worthy then," she wrapped her hands around the warhammer shaft, "Maybe I'm worthy now." She then tugged the warhammer with all her might, only to have it not budge a bit. "Or maybe not."

"See, now can we go?" Weiss asked the crimsonette tapping her foot on the ground.

"Not yet," Ruby said running over to the princess in a split second with a smile on her face. " _You_ still need to try."

"No, no no no," Weiss chuckled as she waved her off. "If you couldn't move that hammer, I definitely couldn't. You twirl around that scythe of death like nothing, I wave around a rapier."

"Crescent Rose is not a scythe of death, it is a useful farming tool that can help protect against grimm," Ruby defended herself as she pushed Weiss towards the warhammer. "The worker said only the worthy can pick up the hammer, not just someone strong, otherwise we would bring Yang here, which we could still do."

"Fine," Weiss said grabbing the warhammer with one hand and gave it a tug, not having it move. "There, now, what next?"

"Well," Ruby trail off as she looked around the circus. "We could go there."

On the other side of the dirt path was a small purple tent. There was a man with long black hair wearing a long green jacket placing a sign outside the tent with the symbol of an eye on it. He then tied his hair into a low ponytail and turned showing the girls a pink streak in his hair.

* * *

 **There we go, magical hammer and faunus slavery. Weiss and Ruby have their own side story, as does Jaune and Blake. Jaune and Blake's story is a tad bit more serious, but the others' will tie in.**

 **I know how I made Balo Kane was a cliche bad guy, but that's what he is. I kind of wanted him to be twirling a cane in his hand while smoking a cigar, but whatever.**

 **I also think I've made it plainly obvious who I'm bringing in next. That's right, Roman and Neo. Just kidding. Ren and Nora. The only question is, where's Nora? Some of you may not like me for that answer, but that's in... the next chapter probably.**

 **Now then, have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	27. Nora Valkyrie

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the next chapter of The Princess and the Rose. This chapter actually got written early due to two things: I stayed up late, so sleep deprived Van came back with a vengeance to write a chapter, and I also decided not to have the characters attend a show. You can actually see the point where I said 'screw it' and just advanced the plot.**

 **Like I said in the previous chapter, I might not do Whiterose fluff this chapter because I decided to advance the plot, but don't worry, after the seriousness is over, there will be fluff.**

 **Onto reviews**

 **Mossblomma: I actually had thought of this, so I address it in this chapter. Also, you'll see why people might be upset about Nora.**

 **Yaksher: Well, yeah.**

 **KibaPT: Well, yeah. Also, how did your cat get trapped inside a wardrobe?**

 **(Sassy) Guest: Alright then. There may be criticize worthy stuff here, like Nora, so I already know.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Hello, and welcome to the land of magic, my name is Lie Ren and I shall be your guide to the land of the unknown," Ren greeted Weiss and Ruby as they entered his tent. "Now, what is it you would like to know?"

"Wait, you know magic?" Weiss asked him walking towards the table.

"Uhh… sort of," Ren mumbled as he sat down and gestured for them to. "I could read your palms if you like. Five silver for palm readings."

"Well," Weiss said thinking, but then Ruby immediately threw five silver on the table and stuck out her hand. "Ok, I guess we're doing this." She pulled five silver from her pouch and placed it on the table.

"Alright, let's see here," he said taking Ruby's hand in his. He dragged his index finger across the lines in her palm. "You are a very strong willed person. I can tell you care deeply for your friends. There is something else," Ren said as his eyes focused on her palm. "You always seem to know what is right, and will always do the right thing."

"Well, that is a spot on description of Ruby," Weiss said as Ruby took her hand back with a wide smile on her face. "I guess it is my turn." She stuck out her hand and Ren took it immediately running his index finger across her palm.

"This is… interesting," he said raising an eyebrow. "You have a very strong will and stern attitude. There does seem to be something you want nobody to ever know about you. A dark secret." He paused to let that linger for a second. "There also seems to be a slight tingle of magic in your hands. Really cold. I'm actually surprised you're not wearing gloves right now."

"Well, um, I typically do wear gloves as part of my armor," Weiss answered him still somewhat confused.

"Armor, are you two knights?" Ren asked her suddenly more attentive than the girls realized he could be.

"Why is that the first question people ask?" Ruby asked looking towards Weiss.

"Knights are quite popular," Weiss answered her then turned to Ren before he could open his mouth. "No we're not knights, we're adventurers. We both just got really good equipment before we started."

"Made by my dad," Ruby interjected quickly.

"Anyway, why do you ask?"

"Full disclosure," Ren said holding both his hands in front of him, "I'm not a mystic, or a psychic, or anything relating to magic."

"Why are you telling us this?" Weiss asked him raising an eyebrow.

"I need your help with something," he said then started walking away from the table gesturing for them to follow as he left the tent.

* * *

"This place is haunting," Jaune said as he and Blake walked through the carnival's 'sideshow.'

"That is one word for it," Blake said to him as they walked past a cage where what appeared to be a winged bat faunus charged the bars crashing into them. "This is not a sideshow, it is a freak show. Some of these people have birth defects changing their appearances from the norm, and these places take advantage of that for monetary gain."

"I was thinking, maybe we could take down the owner before he uses the magic to control the workers," Jaune suggested as a bull faunus, who looked more bull than person, charged the cage's bars jutting out his horns nearly stabbing Jaune's thigh causing the bard to yelp and almost collide with Blake. After breathing for a second he continued on. "I think we could just hold a blade to his throat and force him to remove the spell."

"That probably won't work," Blake told him as a white beowolf barked at her causing her to jump in the air barely even giving Jaune a chance to catch her. She then hopped out of his arms and did some heavy breathing for a second before continuing. "All the owner would have to do is make a telepathic order to attack us without our knowing, or we could kill him, but the magic would still remain on the order having the workers hunt us down long after he is dead. There is no way we could help these people without cutting the sigils fast, which we probably couldn't do."

"Well, with your sword technique, you could cut the areas where the sigils could be quickly," he suggested to her.

"Still not possible," Blake told him. "The sigils could be placed on other parts of a person's body. A common place for a sigil would be the shoulder, but some slavers place the mark on a person's lower back, or others might mark the abdomen. Some may even place the sigil on the inner thigh, where blades are most likely not going to pass."

"So, we still have little to no options," Jaune groaned in annoyance throwing his head back. He then looked back down to down the path and something caught his attention. "Blake, what's that?" he asked her as he ran down the path to a far cage.

"What are you- oh," she said as she approached the cage.

Inside the cage was a girl right around their age. She had long orange hair that seemed messed up and matted with dirt covering parts of her face. She was wearing a roughspun tunic that was covered in mud in parts. She was sitting in the fetal position staring ahead with blank turquoise eyes.

"Uhh, hello?" Jaune said waving his hands in front of the cage in front of where her eyes were gazing. She didn't even react, nor even her eyes changed position. "Are you alright?"

"Jaune, I don't think she's responsi-" Blake said, but was interrupted by the girl in the cage screaming.

She began writhing in pain while rolling around the cage as her back bended backwards. Suddenly, red jolts coursed from the middle of her back over the rest of her body. She continued screaming for several minutes before the electricity stopped and she stopped screaming. Then she got back up and walked to the cage wall before going back into the fetal position.

"Blake, what just happened?" Jaune asked her as he was still staring at the girl in shock.

"It's… it's not uncommon for a slave owner to get bored and elect a plaything," Blake answered him looking at the girl sorrowfully. "Sometimes the owner will pick a slave he just decides to randomly shock with the full effect of the bondage spell. It entertains them while showing the other slaves what can happen if they don't follow the rules."

"That… bastard!" Jaune growled as he clenched his fist forming a scowl. "Blake, we're finding the owner of this carnival, now." He then walked past the girl's cage towards the large tent.

"Jaune, what are you doing?" Blake asked him as she noticed the white beowolf behind her started to get more aggressive and began gnawing at the bars on its cage. "Jaune!" She quickly ran after the pissed off bard.

* * *

"Where are you taking us?" Ruby asked Ren as the three of them neared a side area off the main portion of the carnival.

"I just need your help with something," he said cautiously looking around for the owner. "Adventurers help people, and someone really needs your help."

"What are you talking about?" Weiss asked him as they neared a cage. She then saw inside the cage. "Oh."

"Yes," he said walking over to the cage and approached the side where the girl was. "This is Nora Valkyrie. We came to Vale together when we were children on the ships. After we were bought by Mr. Kane, he kept her as an example to the other workers since the previous one had died."

"Died from what?" Ruby asked him immediately getting an answer. Nora suddenly started writhing in pain and screaming as electricity coursed over his body. Ruby gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. After a few minutes, Nora stopped screaming and went back to the side of her cage.

"From that," Ren told both of them. "After years of torture from the binding magic, it can take its toll on a person's heart. So far it's a miracle that Nora has survived this long having been shocked once a day for years, but lately Mr. Kane has noticed that she shouldn't have lived this long. So, he's increasing the amounts of shocks per day to see how much it would take to kill her." He paused as he looked away from the two to his friend, then back to the other two. "He's _killing_ her. I need you to take her away from here to save her."

"What can we do?" Ruby asked him suddenly getting serious.

"I just need you to take her and run," Ren said then stopped Ruby from running up to the cage, "but first, there needs to be a distraction. Mr. Kane can sense if any of his workers are out of line, which then he can activate the sigil. I can remove the sigil, but he can sense even that."

"So what then?" Weiss asked him.

"We need a distraction," he said as he noticed the white beowolf in a cage down the path gnawing on his cage aggressively. "If something were to happen and Mr. Kane noticed some sigils disappearing from his control, he would think that slave had died."

"So, what kind of distraction would we need?" Ruby asked looking around.

* * *

"Jaune, Jaune, stop!" Blake shouted at him causing the pissed off bard to stop in his tracks, fists still clenched. He hadn't brought his weapon, nor had Weiss, and Ruby obviously didn't. Only Blake did, only because she never went anywhere without it. "You just can't walk into the tent and punch that guy in the face."

"Did you see what he did to that girl?" he asked her slashing his hand through the air horizontally. "All that pain, and I'm pretty sure he does that multiple times a day. Did you see how dead her eyes looked?"

"Jaune, I know it's not fair, but he has a better plan for just these kinds of situations," Blake told him. "The shows are starting soon in the big tent, and the owner is most likely going to be in the middle of the set. If you just go out there and punch him in the face, it will cause nearby grimm to come to the area."

* * *

"That's the kind of distraction we need," Ren said explaining the plan to the two of them. "One of you would need to go out into the middle of the stage and punch Mr. Kane in the face. Once the crowd sees that, they will react with some negative emotion, enough to draw out some grimm. It wouldn't be too many, but just enough to draw attention. Mr. Kane would be able to focus the workers on fighting the grimm instead of you, at which that point you will run away."

"So you want to potentially threaten other workers with this plan?" Weiss asked him.

"The workers can surprisingly handle themselves in a fight," he explained to them. "None should die, but Mr. Kane would understand if one or two of his sigils were to be broken. While you distract Kane, I can remove the sigil and work on opening the cage."

"And how long do we have before we start this plan?" Ruby asked getting into a running stance.

* * *

"Hey!" Jaune shouted to Balo Kane as he entered the big tent. The top hat wearing man turned to look at Jaune, as did the spectators in the crowd. "You and I have a problem."

"Hello there," Balo Kane said doing a quick flamboyant bow to Jaune before standing straight. "I'm sorry, but I have a show I need to do. If you have a problem with me, please wait outside the tent."

"This isn't something that can wait," Jaune said walking towards Balo. He then cocked back his arm and punched the carnival owner right in the face, causing some members of the crowd to gasp. Jaune then punched Balo again before kneeing him in the chest.

"That was a big mistake, boy," Balo sneered as his eyes started to glow red.

"Blake, I hope you can do this fast," Jaune muttered to himself as Balo started walking backwards as some faunus and human workers began walking towards Jaune.

In the distance, several menacing howls could be heard. Then they started becoming louder.

* * *

 **Well, that escalated quickly. Really, that got out of hand fast.**

 **So yeah, Nora has been the subject to torture for years, which seems to have broken her. I can feel the hate already coming from you guys. Sassy guest, I can sense your fingers twitching.**

 **So yeah, I had originally intended to have Ren do a show in the big tent where Weiss and Ruby attended while Blake and Jaune do their own thing. Then I decided to not have that happen and progress the plot, I seem to do that a lot actually.**

 **Oh, Ren doesn't do magic, but he does have another special talent.**

 **In other news I did pretty well during my comedy bit, so I think I use my current jokes for a few weeks.**

 **So I'm going to figure out how to post from my phone, then be off to bed.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	28. White Beowolf and Balo Kane

**Hello everyone, my name is J. Van A and this is the most recent chapter of The Princess and the Rose, and I think this is the third chapter I've posted this week. Tired Van is still apparently a decent writer when it comes to writing chapters that don't exactly tie into the plot.**

 **Anyway, we get to have some interesting fights with the characters.**

 **Still, as much as I'd like to do my continual monologue, I'm still tired.**

 **Onto reviews.**

 **KibaPT: Ha, I used to have cats when I was younger, but then they ran off because they were outside cats and could easily survive on their own.**

 **Mossblomma: Not happening. We're sticking to the story of Jaune punching the dude in the face. Drugging him might've worked, but we're past that.**

 **Yaksher: Yeah, it jumped up a notch. It did, didn't it? Nobody got stabbed in the heart though.**

 **(Sassy) Guest: I know you're not always trying to start a fight. Still, you are one of the few reviewers who are constructively critical with me, which is why I like to jokingly say don't fight me.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Gah!" Ren shouted as he right shoulder started to spark. Similarly Nora's back started to spark, but she didn't seem to react.

"What's going on?" Ruby asked surprised at Ren's sudden shout.

"Well, something is happening," Ren said as he started clutching his shoulder. "Something is going on in the big tent. Balo wants people to go to the big tent to beat someone up and others to fight the oncoming grimm."

"Seriously?"

"So, it seems like someone acted out our plan without us," Ren cringed as he started clawing at his boot. "Damn, J'vana."

"What are you going to do about your mark?" Weiss asked as she walked over to the cage, pulled out her dagger, and started to try and pry the lock open.

"I have a plan," he said as he pulled a long green dagger from his boot. He then stabbed his shoulder cutting through the mark, severing the connection causing the lightning to immediately stop. "And that really hurts."

"Yeah," Ruby said running over to Weiss. "Move over." Weiss took a step to the left and Ruby grabbed the handle of her dagger. With one movement, Ruby twisted the blade breaking the lock.

"How did you do that?" Ren asked walking over to the girls while pressing a rag to his bleeding shoulder.

"She's crazy strong," Weiss answered him as they entered the cage. He gave her a quizzical look as they walked over to Nora. "If you saw her weapon, you'd understand."

"How can we help her?" Ruby asked as she kneeled besides Nora. "Her mark seems to be near the bottom of her spine, so stabbing her there would probably cause some permanent damage."

"I'm not going to hurt her," he said pulling up the back end of her tunic to expose the mark on her back surrounded by several burn scars. "She's my childhood friend." He placed his hand over the mark, and then his palm started to glow.

"I thought you said you couldn't do magic," Ruby said as she watched Ren focus.

"This isn't magic," Ren muttered as he fully pressed his hand down on her back causing the light to be blinding for a second before it stopped. He then removed his hand from her back to reveal the mark had been removed and any burn marks that were under his hands had been healed. "It's chi. Completely different from magic."

"That looks an awful lot like healing magic," Weiss said Ren helped Nora to her feet despite her initial resistance.

"It's not magic," he repeated as he and Nora exited the cage. "Now, we need to get going before anyone comes here."

"You know, for a carnival with so many workers, there are none around," Weiss noted as she and Ruby exited the cage.

"That's probably because they are all going to the big tent," Ren said as they walked near his tent. "The obedience spell is really hard to oppose. The only reason I was able to resist it long enough to break the sigil was through constant meditation."

"I guess I feel bad for the person in the big tent," Ruby said as there was a loud metallic snap behind them. As they turned, they saw the white beowolf pried open the metal bars and exited the cage. "Damn, J'vana!"

* * *

"I was not prepared for this!" Jaune shouted as he ducked backwards to avoid a high kick aimed at his face. An uppercut to his back caused him to straighten back up just in time to avoid an axe kick aimed where his head was previous. "Blake, I need some help!"

Just as a knife thrower from the side of the room whipped at knife directed at his chest, a weighted dagger connected to a chain from the tent's center pole intercepted the knife throwing it to the ground. The dagger was then pulled back up to the shadows before the kusarigama shot from the same area and hooked itself around Jaune's chest. Jaune was then pulled from the crowd towards the central pole.

"Jaune, do you have any kind of blade on you?" Blake asked him as she swung him away from the crowd of workers.

"Blake, it's me," Jaune replied looking up at the cat faunus. "The only blade I have is my sword, and why would I bring it to a carnival? I originally thought we were going to have a fun time here today!"

"Fine then," she said reaching to her belt and pulled off a wakizashi short sword to toss at him. "You just need to find the sigil on the person and cut it. After they are free from the spell, they should not attack you."

"You make it sound easy!"

"Good luck!" Blake shouted at him as she unhooked the kusarigama dropping Jaune onto the bleachers where half the workers split off to go after Jaune, and the other half went after Blake.

"So, you two seem to have a problem about how I conduct my business," Balo Kane said as he walked into the middle of the middle of the performance area. "And you seem to have cost me a night of business. A rather big mistake on your part, because it now frees me up to kill you."

"Great, now we have to deal with these guys, and him," Blake muttered as she landed on the ground. Then she used her dagger to cut through a nearby worker's shirt. Once his back had been revealed, she quickly found the sigil and cut through it. The man quickly fell to the ground for a second before standing back up and shooting Blake a grateful smile before running out of the big tent.

Jaune kicked a man in the chest throwing him backwards down the bleachers hitting several other workers on the way down. He turned to his left and used Blake's short sword to cut through a nearby worker's shirt revealing the sigil on his abdomen. He then quickly cut through the sigil causing the man to fall for a second before picking himself back up and running away.

* * *

"Ren, take Nora and get far away from here," Weiss said drawing her dagger and getting into a fighting stance. Her right palm started to glow slightly and form frost on her hand and the dagger's blade.

"No, Ruby, come here and take Nora. You two are at a disadvantage without your main weapons," Ren said handing Nora off to Ruby before pulling out two long green daggers and getting into a fighting stance. "Now, get her away from here."

"Got it," Ruby said as she quickly jogged off carrying Nora.

"So, does your magic help out during a fight?" Weiss asked as the white beowolf looked directly at the two of them.

"It is not magic, it's chi, and it doesn't exactly go well in a fight," Ren groaned as the white beowolf started its charge. "That's why I have these." Just as the white beowolf was about to attack him, Ren stabbed it in the arm and pulled himself up avoiding the attack while riding its arm. Then he pulled out both daggers as he kicked the animal in its large head.

Weiss quickly stabbed the ground causing a sheet of ice to form from her all the way to the beowolf's feet. It then slipped on the ice causing it to fall, but as it fell the grimm pivoted its body and struck the ground shattering the ice.

* * *

After Ruby carried Nora past Ren's tent and to the hammer in stone. She let her down next to the hammer's handle.

"Alright, Nora, I just need you to stay here while I go help out the others," Ruby said only getting a nod from the redhead as she sat down in the fetal position against the hammer. "Alright, if any grimm come this way you need to run. Just follow the path and you should make it to the town." Nora nodded again as Ruby drew her dagger from her boot and got into a running stance. She then bolted back towards the two currently in combat.

Ruby charged at the white beowolf just as it started to pick itself back up. She then tackled the beast throwing it back to the ground before stabbing her own dagger into its shoulder. The grimm then hit her on the side throwing the girl off to the side. Weiss ran in and stabbed the grimm in the foot causing ice to pin it to the ground, but she was standing too close to the ice ending in her freezing her own foot to the ground.

"Damn magic," Weiss cursed as she started tugging on her leg.

The beowolf was about to claw Weiss in the side, but before it could stab her, Ruby bolted in front of Weiss taking the blow. The claws managed to make three deep claw marks in her side throwing her into Weiss. The force from the impact between the two girls caused Weiss to break free from the ice throwing them both off to the side of the road.

The white beowolf smashed his claws on the remaining ice breaking itself free. Then it picked itself up and began walking towards Weiss and an injured Ruby. Ren ran forward forward and slid on the ground between the white beowolf's legs. He slashed the back of the beowolf's legs causing the beast to howl in pain. Ren got up from his slide and launched himself at the white beowolf managing to kick it in the head.

"Weiss, get Ruby out of here," Ren said to the girls. "I'll take care of this."

"Be careful," Weiss told him as she dragged Ruby away.

"Always am," Ren said as he quickly made several slashed to the white beowolf's chest. He quickly ducked under the beowolf's large claws then jumped backwards getting closer to Nora. Sure it may have slightly risked Nora, but it was Weiss and Ruby's only chance of getting away.

The white beowolf then started charging at Ren on all fours. Just before it reached him, the white beowolf lunged forward and went for an uppercut slashing his chest. The blood from Ren's chest flew through the air travelling backwards towards Nora having several splatters of blood land on her face. Her eyes remained expressionless as she reached over wiping some blood from her cheek and began to look at it.

* * *

"Blake, did I ever tell you that this was a bad idea?!" Jaune shouted as he cut open another nearby worker's shirt to find and stab the sigil on his shoulder. "Because this was a really bad idea!"

"To be fair, it was your plan!" Blake shouted as she quickly drew her katana cutting through three people's sigils in nearly a second.

The workers' numbers had started to get much smaller as Blake and Jaune kept cutting through sigils, which Balo Kane started to notice and begin to panic. He was about to run out of the tent until he was blocked at the exit by the freed workers. A couple of them grabbed him while the rest picked up sharp weapons and charged into the tent to help get rid of sigils.

The rest of the altercation lasted just a few minutes where the other workers cut through the others' sigils. After that the workers brought Balo Kane to the center of the stage area where they had restrained him.

"So, you filthy degenerates finally escaped your bondage," Balo chuckled as all the workers started surrounding him. "Now, what will you do, kill me?"

"No, nothing like that," one of the workers said then turned to Jaune and Blake. "You two should probably go. Thank you for all you did, but I don't think anyone else would want to see this."

* * *

"Damn white beowolf," Ren muttered under his breath as he dodged another slash from the white beowolf. He dodged another strike from the beowolf and slashed its arm.

The beowolf slashed causing him to duck slightly and stab the beowolf in its elbow severing the tendons. The beowolf roared in pain as it moved its arm away from Ren. Then it used its free hand to slash Ren's chest again splattering blood on the ground nearby.

"Ren!" a hoarse voice shouted from behind him as a large object hurled through the air blindsiding the grimm. Ren then saw as the large object landed on the ground revealing an old looking metal hammer. He turned around and saw Nora standing on top of the rock breathing heavy, just where the hammer had just been.

The grimm then snarled at Nora and charged at her. Nora charged straight back at it, ducking between its legs before they collided. She then reached the warhammer and grabbed the handle. Just as the white beowolf turned to begin an attack again, Nora lifted up the hammer and smacked it in the head throwing the beowolf to the side and to the ground. Nora then jumped in the air with the hammer above her head before slamming it on the grimm's head crushing its skull, killing it.

* * *

 **And bam, all of you guys saw that coming a mile away. Of course Nora would pick up the hammer. She picks up the hammer in the show.**

 **Anyway, we have completed both of the side stories, which means that next chapter will be the aftermath. Which is also going to focus a lot on Ren and Nora.**

 **If anyone is going to argue with me in the comments about how Ruby was a badass fighter beforehand in the dungeon, but still lost to a regular beowolf. First, white beowolf, obviously a mini-boss. Next, Ruby is skilled with Crescent Rose, which she doesn't have. As the show has shown in a couple situations, Ruby is not that great of a fighter without her weapon.**

 **Now then, I'm still pretty tired, and my D &D campaign starts in 13 hours, so I should probably get some sleep soon. **

**I'm going to go to bed.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	29. The Aftermath and Haircuts

**Hello, hello, hello, this is J. Van A back with a new chapter of The Princess and the Rose. I would've gotten this out earlier, but I was sick for the past few days.**

 **Anyway, I've gotten some slight WhiteRose in this chapter. If you guys don't like it, I'm sorry. I suck at romance. In my other story, A BLZEing Remnant, it took me forever to do the Blaise and Eva romance.**

 **Onto reviews:**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Thanks, I figured since Weiss just got magic, she should have to learn how to use it.**

 **Matt Cyr: It was part of the freak show since it was white furred whereas most grimm are black furred.**

 **EternalPKK: Thanks, hope that doesn't change.**

 **Guest: I don't think that's how it went down. Ren is not a magician, he's a martial artist who uses chi. I'm mostly making chi a healing power, but I might make him more in tune with nature and stuff.**

 **Nakfyre: The fear demon called her Miss Schnee in a whisper so only she could hear. I made sure to write that specifically to avoid something like that. Since I'm playing D &D with my roommates, I guess I might make the story more D&D-ish, but the D&D I play is pokemon, which is fun except for when the DM makes us fight Maxie and Archie for seven freaking hours. I eventually said screw it and had Gyarados go savage on Archie while my guy telekinetically choke him out from across the map. We're all level 15 and he made us fight level 40 trainers.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"So, let me get this straight," Yang said as she hammered down on the red hot metal which used to be the greatsword she pulled from the dungeon, "You four went to the carnival, separated, Ruby and Weiss found a fortune teller and Jaune punched a guy in the face, then Ruby got injured from fighting a white beowolf while you and Jaune managed to free a carnival full of slaves?"

"Basically," Blake said as she jumped back slightly from the sparks coming from Yang's hammer. "After the whole ordeal Weiss carried Ruby to the inn to get looked at while Nora carried Ren and a hammer to where Jaune could look at them."

"So, why would you risk yourselves to free those slaves despite the numbers," Yang said striking the metal again causing Blake to jump back further again.

"Well, its for some specific reasons," Blake said as she leaned against the warm wall. "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't ask anymore questions on the subject."

"Blake-"

"I said no questions," she interjected.

"But Blake-"

"I said no," she interjected again.

"Your shirt's on fire," Yang deadpanned as she looked at the flames riding up Blake's shirt.

The faunus immediately looked and saw that she had leaned against the forge having the edge of her shirt be in perfect range for sparks. She then jumped away from the wall and tried to pat down the flames to no avail. After that did nothing she pulled off her shirt and threw it on the ground so she could pat down the fire. After the flames had been put out, Blake realized that she had her back turned to Yang.

"Damn, J'vana," Blake cursed as she turned around to see a surprised Yang.

"So…" Yang said looking to her shoulder.

"Yes, there's a slave sigil on my shoulder," Blake answered her question before it was even asked.

"So the reason you wanted to save those slaves was because you were one," Yang said to her.

"Yes," Blake said picking up her shirt and putting it on. "I was born in the northeastern portion of Vacuo. When I was young I was taken by slavers and brought to Atlas. After a couple years there, the White Fang came to our owner's farm and started removing peoples' sigils, forcefully. The White Fang member who removed my sigil was a puma faunus and he used his own claws to tear through my shoulder." She took a deep breath and looked over to Yang. "I would appreciate it if you didn't tell the others. They would treat me differently, especially Ruby, she'd probably just feel sorry for me."

"Look, I'm not one to go off telling everyone secrets, but I won't act surprised when you eventually tell the others," Yang said as she went back to hammers. "So until you decide to tell everyone, i'm going to advise you to stay away from fires."

"Thanks, Yang," Blake said as she finally calmed down from having her shirt on fire.

"Now then, drag that bucket of water over here," Yang said pointing to the bucket by the forge. "You're my assistant till Ruby is back in action."

* * *

"You are the biggest dunce I know," Weiss said as she placed the bandages on Ruby's abdomen. "Why would you run right into the path of the beowolf's claw?"

"Well, if I didn't, the grimm would've clawed you," Ruby chuckled as she looked over to Weiss. "You froze yourself to the ground, and if the beowolf would've clawed you, it would've cut clean through your neck. Though I realized that after I took the hit." She then tensed up and cringed as Weiss cleaned the next wound.

"Calm down," Weiss said as she grabbed Ruby's hand causing Ruby to squeeze it. "Now then, this is probably going to hurt, and I'm probably going to need both hands."

"Don't let go," Ruby said fighting back tears from the pain.

"Fine," Weiss said as she continued to clean the wound. "I do have one more question. Why would you really jump in front of beowolf's claws if you didn't already know it would kill me?"

"Seemed, GAH!" she yelled as Weiss accidentally put too much pressure on the wound. "Seemed like the right thing to do."

"Dunce," Weiss muttered to herself as she continued cleaning the wounds.

* * *

"Are you sure that you don't want me to look you over?" Jaune asked Ren as he looked at the man applying his own bandages.

"No offense, Jaune, but I think I know a bit more about medicine than you," Ren answered him pulling down his shirt.

"Ok, well, should we go look at your friend?" Jaune asked him looking towards the door where Nora was on the other side.

"To be completely honest, she seems better now than she ever was," Ren said as he approached the door. "She's walking around and talking. Though she seems to have more energy than she ever had. Maybe it's because she spent years motionless in a cage and this is just her pent up energy."

Suddenly, the door was thrown open and Nora was standing there holding a knife and her hair was at varying length. "Oh, Ren! Just in time!" Nora exclaimed as she grabbed his arm causing the boy to look shocked. "I think it would be a great idea to cut my hair, but I just can't think of a length to keep it at. My hair has been long for so long that the ends are splitting. Maybe I could cut it to my shoulders, or maybeIshouldcutitshort! Ren! You're helping!" She then pulled him in making him look desperately at Jaune for help.

He held his hands in front of him in response. "Hey, she picked up the hammer. I'm not messing with her."

"Smart move," Ren said as the door was slammed shut behind him.

* * *

"And we're done," Weiss said as she finished putting on the final bandage. "It would've been done faster if I had both hands. Speaking of which." She attempted to take her hand back only to have the younger girl groan slightly and tighten her grip. "You're asleep, aren't you?" Ruby only responded with soft breathing. "Well, I would like to sleep too, but I need my hand back."

"Ngh," Ruby groaned as she grabbed Weiss's hand with both of hers and pulled it close to her chest. She then began breathing heavier causing Weiss to groan.

"I would like to sleep too," Weiss said trying to take her hand back only to have Ruby grip it tighter. "I'm too tired to deal with this." She gave up and just laid against the bed, then fell asleep next to the farm hand. Since they were both asleep, they didn't notice a soft white glow appear over Weiss, then move over to Ruby's abdomen.

* * *

"This is PERFECT!" Nora exclaimed as she burst out of the room with short hair surprising Jaune causing him to nearly fall out of his chair. "Jaune, Jaune, Jaune, look at what Ren did. I've never had my hair this short, but my head feels so light it's amazing! We should cut your hair. Ren, get the scissors!"

"Nope, nope, nope," Jaune said as he fumbled out of his chair and began running to the door out of the room. Just before he could touch the handle, Nora's arms wrapped under his and she picked him up. "No, don't do this. I like my hair the way it is. It's shorter than yours!"

"You could do with a trim," Ren said as he opened and closed his scissors a couple times.

"You're one to talk!" Jaune shouted as he broke out of Nora's arms and ran out the door into the inn.

"I don't know," Ren said grabbing some of his hair. "Nora, should I get this cut?"

"No, nonono, no," Nora said chuckling a little bit. "You look good with long hair."

* * *

"Ok, in a little while, we will be done here," Yang said as she smoothed down the metal shaft.

"Don't we need Crescent Rose's blade to attach it to the shaft?" Blake asked as she watched Yang work, keeping her distance from any fires.

"Not at the moment," Yang said as she finished smoothing down the shaft. "Ruby was really smart when she designed Crescent Rose. After she forged the blade, she altered the shaft to make the scythe's blade just slide and lock in without worrying about the blade being loose. Since Ruby helped me shape this metal initially, it has the same sort of design, so once this is over we can just insert the blade and be done with it."

"Ahhh!" Jaune shouted as he burst into the forge and locked the door behind him. Blake and Yang just looked at him as he leaned against the door breathing heavily. "Nora, scissors, haircuts, save me."

Yang immediately focused as her expression hardened. "Blake, start moving furniture. Block the door. We need to make sure Nora can't get in here," she said as she picked up a table and made her way over to the door.

"Why would we do that?" Blake asked as she watched Yang pick up some chairs and place them against the door.

"Haircuts, Blake," Yang said as she turned and grabbed Blake's shoulders. "If she thinks Jaune needs a haircut, what do you think she'll do when she sees my hair?"

"Ok, well, while you guys do that, I'm going to be over here," Blake said pointing to the other side of the forge where a solitary char was sitting in a corner. She sat down on the chair and reached into her bag so she could pull out a book. After that she opened the book and began reading while Jaune and Yang piled furniture against the door. "Avoiding this insanity."

"So, what's the point of them doing this?" a voice asked beside Blake, but she didn't bother to look up from her book.

"Jaune and Yang think that barricading the door will keep out Nora so she doesn't give them haircuts," Blake explained then flipped the page.

"Well that's ridiculous, Ren's the one with the scissors," the voice said chuckling causing Blake to raise an eyebrow and look away from the book. She saw Nora standing there with short hair leaning against the hammer she brought with her from the carnival.

"How did you get in here," Blake asked closing her book.

"Well, the door didn't open when I tried that, so I got in through the window," Nora said gesturing towards the open window.

"Blake, you gotta help out," Jaune said turning to look at her only to freeze and let out a small shriek.

"Jaune, what's wrong?" Yang asked as she turned to look where he was looking only to freeze up for a second before jumping onto the barricade. "She's here!"

"Yang, the door," Jaune said as he started pulling away furniture frantically. "We need to get out of here."

"You don't have to tell me that," Yang said as she pulled away several chairs from the door. She grabbed a leg of the last table and tried to pull it away from the door only to not have it budge. "What the?"

"Oh! I'll help," Nora said walking to the table. She then rested her hammer against the door and pulled the table away with ease.

"Yang, let's go!" Jaune said as he grabbed the door and pulled only to have the door not budge an inch. "Yang, the hammer!"

"Got it," Yang told him as she reached over and grabbed the hammer. Then then tugged on the weapon only to have it not budge. "What is wrong with this thing?"

"Guess you just don't have the stuff then," Nora said picking up the hammer with ease. "So you're Yang. Weiss told me a lot about you. Hey, do you think you could put a grip on my hammer? The metal can sometimes be uncomfortable."

"Umm, sure," Yang told her. "Just place it on the table, and I'll need you to stay here to move that thing though. Blake, find the leather strips."

* * *

 **So yeah, there's the chapter. I figured I might as well make Nora more like Nora in the show. The explanation for her sudden energy is a bit far fetched, but whatever, Nora is Nora.**

 **I hope the fluff was good enough. If not I could try to work better. Suggestions are welcome. So if you guys think that you have an idea for fluff that would fit in with this story, just message me or post them in reviews. I would like the help since I suck at romance. I can handle the rest.**

 **I was just about to post this before I talked about the fact that I kind of just glossed over the fact that I revealed part of Blake's backstory. Yeah, I made her a former slave who was saved by the White Fang. Some of you probably figured out that would be her past considering her attitude towards faunus slaves. Bet you guys can figure out who the faunus who removed her sigil. Maybe he was a cat, but he was more like a puma.**

 **I think I'm going to go back and write for my OC story again. I kind of left it off on a cliffhanger just before the Battle for Beacon.**

 **Anyway, have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	30. Conclusion before the Plot Returns

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with a late chapter of The Princess and the Rose. I've been a tad bit busy lately with school because of midterms and papers to write. Also I kind of ran into a writer's block with this story.**

 **So, reviews:**

 **KibaPT: Yeah, god help anyone who cuts her hair.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: I'm most likely going to not really touch up on the fluff for a while, but I may throw in something here or there.**

 **Guest: A bar scene would be interesting.**

 **Nakfyre: Maybe later in the series.**

 **Anyway, enjoy the chapter**

* * *

"Ren, is she around?" Jaune asked him as he ran into the room where he was checking up on Ruby's wounds

"No, Nora seems to be somewhere else," Ren told him as he picked up one of the bandages to see the wound only to find some scars. "Does Ruby always heal this quickly?"

"Well," Jaune trailed off thinking for a second, "she did heal after a zombie bite, which is unusual since bites typically need to be purified by a priest."

"That is unusual," Ren noted as he removed the bandages. He then looked at Weiss and saw the scar before looking back to Ruby. "These scars seem to have formed unnaturally. They're too clean, like the scars formed almost instantly after the wounds were inflicted."

"Well, now that you mention it, each time that Ruby did any serious healing, Weiss was alone with her," Jaune said placing his chin in his hand. "You don't think that she-"

"Yes," he smirked, "I believe we have a white mage with us."

"Kinda fitting," Jaune told him as he saw Weiss roll towards Ruby slightly. "We should probably go before we appear any creepier."

"Probably."

* * *

"And with that, we now have a leather grip for your magic hammer," Yang said as she secured the last bit of leather strip to the handle. "I still don't get how you're able to lift that hammer."

"I would seem to be a powerful enchantment," Blake said as she attempted to push the hammer's handle only to have it not budge. "Maybe Nora here has some kind of affinity to magic so the magic and her clicked together."

"I don't know about that, but I just grabbed the hammer and picked it up," Nora said emphasizing her point by lifting the hammer and resting it on her shoulder. "Maybe I should go see what Ren is doing."

* * *

"What are we doing?" Ren asked as he followed Jaune around the marketplace,

"We are buying you guys supplies for the road ahead," Jaune said as he started picking up some dried meats before handing the owner some coins. "Then we need to get you guys a pair of horses because I'm sure you wouldn't want to follow along on foot. Oh right, we'll need to pick you guys up some tents so people don't have to double up in already small tents, though I'm sure some people wouldn't mind." He looked back at Ren only to see him staring back surprised. "Are you not coming with us? If not, I'm sorry, I just assumed-"

"No, I'm sorry," Ren interrupted Jaune. "I just hadn't thought about this. Originally I had planned for someone to take Nora and run away leaving me behind at the carnival. Now I guess I don't know what to do."

"Well, you could come with us," Jaune suggested. "We each have our own reasons for joining the group, but I'm pretty sure the others won't mind."

"That's nice of you, and Nora and I don't really have anywhere to go back to, so I think we'll accompany you five on your journey." He then paused as he felt his pockets. "I don't have money, but I'll make sure to pay you-"

"You don't really need to pay me back," Jaune said as he bought two canteens for the new members. "I'm a bard, I don't really have a need for money, but for music. I joined this group because it seems like the girls would be good inspiration for a song, but now with the ninja and a magic hammer wielding girl, I think I have a couple new ideas. Come on, I think there is a ranch down the road selling horses."

* * *

Ruby slowly began to wake herself wincing from the slight pain in her abdomen. When she opened her eyes, she saw Weiss staring back at her with one annoyed glare.

"Morning Weiss," Ruby greeted her with a yawn before she looked at her hand and saw that she was still holding on to Weiss. "Oh, sorry." She let out a slight chuckle which only seemed to annoy Weiss further.

"If you want to apologize, you can begin by letting go," Weiss growled causing Ruby to immediately let go of her hand. "Now then, we should be leaving before someone sees us like this, much less Yang."

"Too late," a voice said from behind Weiss causing the white haired girl's blood freeze. "I think I have just what I need," Yang said as she held up a piece of paper and looked at it, then to the two girls. "Blake, how do you think I did?"

"You seemed to capture them perfectly," Blake said walking out of the shadows and looked at the paper. "Have you ever thought of becoming an artist? I'm sure local lords would pay you lots of money to paint portraits."

"If the majority of them are like the one for this town, I think I'll stick with blacksmithing," Yang said shuddering a little bit at the thought.

"Give me that!" Weiss shouted as she seemed to suddenly appear in front of Yang and tear the paper out of her hand. On the parchment was a realistic drawing of Weiss and Ruby asleep in the bed awfully close to each other. Needless to say, Weiss's face started to turn red.

"What's on there Weiss?" Ruby asked rubbing her eyes as she started to get off the bed.

"N-nothing!" Weiss sputtered out as she was just about to rip the paper in half. Suddenly the paper was torn out of the princess's hands by Nora. "Give that back!"

"No way, this is soo cute," Nora said as she backed up a few paces and placed the head of her hammer on the ground. Weiss ran forward to try and snatch the paper back only to collide with the hammer's shaft and fall back on the ground and rub her nose. "I'm gonna go find Ren and see what he's doing." She grabbed the hammer and simply ran out of the inn.

"That is going to get annoying really fast," Weiss said, her voice a bit different due to the damage done to her nose.

* * *

"Ren~" Nora sang as she ran up to the two guys giving him a tackle hug. "What are you guys doing?"

"Hey, Nora, just getting some supplies," Ren said letting her go. "How would you feel about going with these guys and helping them out on their journey?"

"I thought we already were," Nora answered with a confused expression. "Wait, does this mean we get to get cool armor? What about ponies? Let's get armored ponies! Onward, to the pony blacksmithery!"

"Nora, I don't think armored ponies would be that great of an idea," Jaune said as he walked into the blacksmith shop only to see the owner there and no Yang. "Regular armor on the other hand is goo-" He paused as he turned around and saw that Nora wasn't there. "Where is she going? This is the only blacksmith in town!"

* * *

"Ruby, are you better now?" Yang asked walking to her sister.

"Yang, I feel great," Ruby said then removed the bandages and saw her bare abdomen. "Well, that's interesting."

"Ruby, I know you heal fast, but that's ridiculous," Yang said as she inspected Ruby's newly formed scars before poking them causing the crimsonette to laugh at each poke. Yang then smirked as she took that opportunity to continue to poke Ruby. "Oh yeah, Ruby, Blake and I finished the shaft of Crescent Rose early, so we can leave as soon as we want."

"We have it here if you want to see it," Blake said grabbing a curved metal shaft from the corner of the room and brought it over to Ruby. "Should we put in the blade now?"

"Just give me a second," Ruby said bolting out of the room and then the inn. Yang held up five fingers and slowly lowered them one at at time. As the last finger went down, Ruby burst into the room carrying the blade of Crescent Rose breathing somewhat heavily. "Let's do this."

She took the shaft from Blake and immediately inserted the blade in at an awkward angle which confused everyone except Yang. Ruby then pushed it in before pushing down and back out slightly before up and back. Twisting the blade slightly, she pushed it in further before straightening it then pulled back creating a loud locking sound. After that Ruby tried moving the blade only to cause it to remain still.

"Perfect," she said then twirled the weapon around before trying to secure it to her back only to remember that she wasn't wearing the right equipment. "Thank you Yang!" she exclaimed then suddenly hugged Yang causing the sudden extra weight of the scythe to throw them both to the ground.

"So, now that we fixed her weapon, should we leave town?" Weiss asked the group as the sisters picked themselves back up.

"What about Ren and Nora?" Blake asked getting everyone's attention. "Are we just going to leave them here? The carnival workers are all leaving after the whole ordeal there, so there isn't really anything left for them there."

"I'm fine with them coming with," Ruby said voicing her opinion.

"Nora seems pretty cool, and I hear Ren is a pretty good healer, so they're good with me," Yang said doing a thumbs up.

"I guess they could come with," Weiss shrugged. "If we have to fight anymore demons like that shapeshifter or go into any more dungeons, some extra help would be nice."

"I guess all that's left is to get them some equipment and horses," Blake said placing her chin in her hands thinking for a second before the door opened.

"And that's where I come in," Jaune said entering the room with Ren and Nora in tow. "I already took them shopping to pick up horses, tents, some food, and even two horses. Though I don't think it was necessary to go into the woods and fight a giant killer bee just to get a magic jar of honey that _someone_ drank three minutes after we got it." That last bit was directed to the unusually quiet Nora who was staring off into the distance with a smile on her face.

"I can taste colors," Nora muttered as she chuckled slightly.

"There's nothing we can do for her now," Ren said poking his friend's cheek. "Best to just wait for the effects to wear off. Also, before we leave, we need to have Nora pick up her hammer she left in the middle of the street. She tied our horses to it before placing the weapon on top of the armor we purchased."

* * *

 **And that is the conclusion of the town arc, which the name I honestly forgot.**

 **So, the team has two more members to it. I never really clarified that they were joining in previous chapters, so I might as well have addressed it. Also the three of them had an adventure that no one will ever see because my head is hurting.**

 **We even got some more fluff in this chapter and an interesting scene with an embarrassed Weiss.**

 **Crescent Rose is finally back together again! Now it shouldn't break again, unless the group suddenly comes in contact with a dangerous samurai that has a history of dismembering.**

 **Anyway, the next chapter should be in advancing the plot. That is unless I work really hard the next few days to post a Halloween chapter. I might actually do that.**

 **Well then, back to work.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	31. The Test of Courage

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with a Halloween special chapter of The Princess and the Rose, which I kind of wrote overnight. In it the group is going to celebrate a holiday known as All Grimm's Eve... I know it's a horrible name, but it's just a play on the original name of Halloween.**

 **This chapter is essentially an AU, so next chapter will be the group leaving the town, Redbarrow, I think it's called. You know, I could easily just go back and look at what I named the town, but whatever.**

 **Oh yeah, this is the part where I would normally do reviews on the last chapter, but considering how quickly I put this up, I'm just going to do reviews for this chapter and the last on the next chapter.**

 **So anyway, enjoy**

* * *

"We should do something," Nora complained as she fell backwards off her log as the group circled around the campfire making the most of the heat. "This is just boring, sitting here. We should at least carve pumpkins, there's a patch just down the road."

"Nora, this is one third of travelling," Ren told her as he rubbed his hands for a second before facing them to the fire again. "We can't just ride horses into adventurous situations all the time."

"But come on, don't you know what day it is?" Nora asked the group causing everyone to raise an eyebrow. "It's All Grimm's Eve."

"All Grimm's Eve?" Weiss asked thinking back for a second. "If I remember correctly, back in Atlas that is the day that the townspeople carve pumpkins and give candy out to children who dress up as monsters. My siblings and I snuck out of the house to look at the town dressed as knights."

"That may be the modern tradition around Remnant, but it has a more interesting origin," Blake said taking a bite from her dried fish. "All Grimm's Eve is known as the night where the connection to this world and the afterlife is its thinnest. It is said that ghost will come into this world to haunt children." This seemed to slightly scare the sisters and Weiss causing them to back up from the fire a little bit.

"Though it is said in Vacuo that All Grimm's Eve is where ghosts will visit their loved ones," Ren told them causing the girls to be a little more at ease. "It is also said that grimm are more attuned to this connection thinning and will increase their attacks. Also, demons have been known to appear on All Grimm's Eve for the night due to them entering our world."

"Ren, come on, you're scaring them," Nora said sitting back down on the log. "I mean, just look at Jaune."

Everyone looked over to Jaune who was sitting there trying his hardest to not look terrified only to have it fail. "What, no no no, I'm fine," Jaune said waving his hands in front of his face. "I've spent several All Grimm's Eves with my sisters, and each year they keep trying harder and harder to scare me. I've gained quite an immunity to scary things." At that second a twig snapped behind him causing Jaune to yelp.

"Really, an immunity, huh?" Nora asked with a smile standing behind Jaune moving her head next to his. "I know what we have to do!" she exclaimed shooting a finger in the air. "A test of courage!"

"Nora, that probably isn't a good idea," Blake said to her. "Considering at night, grimm attacks are increased, but remember that on All Grimm's Eve, grimm attacks are even more fierce."

"That's why we will go into the forest," Nora said pointing into the blackness.

"That wasn't what I was getting at," Blake told her with a deadpan expression.

"She actually has a point, but she isn't saying it," Ren told them standing up. "While we were with the circus we often stopped here while we were on the road. There is a temple further ahead down a path with a spell that wards off grimm. So essentially this area is perfect for walking around at night."

"I guess if we wanted to do a test of courage, this place would be a good choice," Weiss said standing up. "I guess I'll be for it."

"Ok, let's do this," Yang said standing up.

"Do I have to?" Blake asked as suddenly Nora appeared in front of her.

"Not really, you can take the torch and go ahead to the temple to make sure people get there," Nora told her grabbing a stick and wrapping it with a cloth before sticking it in the camp fire. "All you have to do is go down that path and sit at the temple. While you're there you can do anything you want."

"That sounds appealing," Blake said grabbing a book from her bag at her side then the torch and began making her way down the path.

"We'll give you ten minutes before we go," Nora shouted to the faunus who was already part way down the path.

* * *

"Ok, so we'll go in groups of two," Nora said to everyone as they were waiting around the entrance to the path. "Jaune and Yang first, Ren and Weiss second, and Ruby and me last. All we have to do is go down that dark scary forest path with no torch or weapons. It should be just fine," she smirked, "that is, unless you run into a monster."

"What!?" Jaune nearly shouted before Nora put her hands on the backs of the first group and pushed them onto the path.

"Have fun~" Sha sang as Yang and Jaune left the path. After they disappeared, Nora turned to the rest of them. "Now we wait a bit before the next group leaves."

* * *

"Having fun there, Jauney-boy?" Yang asked him as they walked down the path.

"What, yeah, yeah, I'm having fun walking down this dark, creepy path in the middle of night," Jaune said attempting to show some confidence. "I think I would've preferred to stayed at the camp instead of going into a creepy dark forest."

"If you wanted some light, I think I've gotten better with my magic," Yang said lighting her hand on fire illuminating the area. "Is that better?"

Suddenly there was a low growling sound coming from behind the bushes causing Yang to look around. Then there was a roar before movement flew behind her and Yang heard a scream. She turned around only to see Jaune wasn't there, but past the buses there was a feminine scream.

* * *

"Did something happen?" Weiss asked everyone. "I think I heard Yang scream"

"That didn't sound like Yang," Ruby told them. "Maybe it was Blake."

"I'm not sure that Blake is able to scream like that," Weiss told her. "Jaune?"

"Jaune's a guy though," Ren said.

"It's probably just something that happens with the test of courage," Nora said as she appeared behind Ren and Weiss before pushing them onto the path. "Have fun~"

"Nora, don't you think this isn't that good of an idea?" Ruby asked the only other person around. "Though you guys say this place is protected by a spell that repels grimm, there are wild animals like wolves around."

"Ruby, everything is going to be fine," Nora said wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "It's All Grimm's Eve, what could happen."

* * *

"Something is happening," Ren said as he inspected a bush that appeared to have something large pulled through it. "This isn't grimm, but it is something."

"Didn't you say that on All Grimm's Eve, grimm and demons will attack more?" Weiss asked looking around having her hands develop frost around the edges and give off a soft white glow. "What if there's a demon around? It wouldn't be affected by the spell."

"It is completely plausible," Ren told her as he stood back up and began walking down the path. "If that is the case, then we should get the other and return to camp. I don't think we are prepared to deal with a demon tonight."

"That's probably a good idea," Weiss said following him. "Blake is probably still by herself at the temple."

"Unless, of course, something grabbed her," Ren said then pointed further ahead the path to a torch thrown on the ground having been reduced to embers.

"Something grabbed her? That shouldn't be right, this is Blake. she could've fought the thing easily using her… weapon. Oh," Weiss said running ahead to the torch. As she approached the torch, there was a low growling and a sudden shout from Ren. Weiss turned around only to not see Ren standing there, and leaves falling down from the tree. She ran over to the tree and looked up only to see a pair of glowing eyes that sent a chill down her spine before they ran away through the tree line.

* * *

"All right, let's do this, partner," Nora said as she walked down the path with Ruby trailing behind her. "The others should be pretty far down the trail by now."

"Nora, are you sure this was a good idea?" Ruby asked her as they passed by a broken bush. "As much as I like All Grimm's Eve traditions, we aren't really in a good enough place to be wandering around aimlessly through the woods."

"Ruby, it'll be fine. I mean, this area is clear of grimm, and any wild animals could be easily scared off without weapons," Nora told her then stopped. "The only thing you would have to worry about would be if you pissed off a demon."

"Ah…" Ruby trailed off as she froze completely still. "I kind of killed two of them before in a dungeon."

"Oh," Nora said as she froze. "Maybe travelling with you wasn't that great of an idea."

"That's all you have to say!?" she screamed at her as she fell to her knees and placed her head in her hands. "I'm the one who is in serious trouble here. that shapeshifter and fear demon probably had friends in the afterlife. If demons come into the world tonight they'll probably be after me."

"Ruby, I'm sure you'll be- Gah!" she suddenly shouted causing Ruby to look back up at her only to see Nora standing there grasping at her neck. Ruby then looked closer only to see what appeared to be a black tentacle wrapped around her neck.

"Nora!" Ruby shouted as Nora was suddenly pulled into the tree line. She ran to the tree and looked up only to see Nora struggling for breath as she tried to pry the tentacle off. Behind Nora there appeared to be a pair of glowing eyes fixated on her. Then the eyes and Nora suddenly disappeared as they went further up the trees. "Nora!"

* * *

"Ren, where are you?" Weiss shouted as she walked further down the path when suddenly she heard rustling come from behind her. That caused Weiss to yelp and shoot an icicle in the direction of the sound.

"Woah,woah, friendly person here!" Ruby shouted as she made her presence known before walking onto the path. "Nora was suddenly taken by something with glowing eyes and I've been trying to follow it, though it seems to be taking a path towards the temple."

"Ren was also taken by something with glowing eyes, and I also think Blake was taken too," Weiss told her as the two met up. "I don't know anything about Yang or Jaune, but if you think Nora was taken to the temple, the other's might have been as well."

"Alright, let's go to the temple," Ruby said as they began walking down the path. "Before I forget, Nora said that this might have something to do with demons since I killed two of them before in the dungeon. We may need to be prepared to fight demons."

"If that's the case, we should probably head back to camp and get our weapons," Weiss said turning around for a second before Ruby reached back and grabbed her armor.

"We don't have time, if there are demons, then we need to help the others as fast as possible," Ruby told her as she reached into her boot and pulled out her dagger. "I have this and you have your magic. We should be fine enough to grab the others and run. After we get everyone we can get back to camp and grab our weapons."

"Alright, then let's go down there," Weiss said then both of them began walking down the path.

They walked in silence for several minutes until they saw a temple appear in the distance. As they neared the temple they saw a blonde figure standing in the middle of the clearing. They approached and saw that the figure was Jaune, but he appeared to be covered in dirt.

"Jaune?" Ruby asked as she walked closer to him.

"Jaune?" he said slowly turning towards Ruby with a crazed expression and smile. "Don't you remember me, Ruby?" He suddenly let out a maniacal laugh. "You _killed_ me!"

"The shapeshifter?" Weiss asked as she shot off and icicle that flew right by the shapeshifter's head causing him to yelp.

"I killed it before," Ruby said gripping her dagger tighter, "and I can do it again!" she suddenly bolted forward ready to strike down the demon who was now… screaming?

Before Ruby could piece things together, a chain wrapped itself around her waist and pulled causing her to fall on the ground. That also caused the person who threw the chain to get pulled from the tree line and land on the ground.

"Blake?" Weiss asked as she watched the ninja pick herself off the ground. "I thought you were taken."

"Guys, I told you this wasn't a good idea!" Jaune shouted as Ren and Nora walked out of the forest and into the clearing. "' _Jaune, you'll be fine, I'll make sure they get rid of their weapons,'_ well you didn't check for their daggers!"

"That was surprising," Ren said as Ruby picked herself up with a confused look on her face.

"What's going on?" Ruby nearly shouted as she put her dagger back into her boot.

"Surprise!" Nora exclaimed throwing her arms into the air. "This was a prank for All Grimm's Eve, but we apparently didn't think this whole thing through."

"So, Jaune, Ren, Blake, Yang, and you were all part of it?" Weiss asked Nora as they all stood in front of the temple steps. "All that effort just to scare two people."

"What? Yang wasn't part of it," Jaune said confused. "When I disappeared she was supposed to run into you two."

"So then where is Yang?" Ruby asked as they all looked around.

* * *

"Ok, so we lost Yang," Weiss said as they sat down on the logs around the campfire. "So in the morning we need to find her."

"Shouldn't we go out and find her?" Ruby asked them resting her hand on the carved pumpkin right next her.

"It's too dark right now, we can probably find her in the morning," Ren said then looked to Ruby's hand "When did we get a carved pumpkin?"

"Carved pumpkin?" Ruby asked looking at what she had her hands on. The pumpkin looked like the traditional carved pumpkin, except for the fact that as soon as everyone looked at it, flames erupted from its eyes.

Everyone jumped back in surprise as the pumpkin began to rise and reveal a figure draped in a black cloak with the pumpkin as its head. It then let out a low chuckling as it outstretched its hands and roared. Everyone in the camp screamed and ran away from the carved pumpkin who was now letting out a maniacal laugh as everyone disappeared into the woods.

The pumpkin figure reached up and pulled off its head to reveal Yang standing there with her hair on fire. "Ha ha, you can't prank the prank master," Yang said as she put the pumpkin back on her head before running into the forest to chase the others.

* * *

 **So yeah, that happened. Complete random in the beginning, minor scares, and a funny ending. Seems like something I would do for a random AU chapter that I wrote basically overnight.**

 **After I was part way through the chapter, I really toyed with the idea of having the characters actually die since this an AU and therefore has no effect on the regular story, but then I figured I wouldn't do that.**

 **Enter the Prank Master Yang! Yeah, I enjoyed writing that twist because it seems like something Yang would do, especially with her magic powers now.**

 **Anyway, I have a Halloween party tonight. I'm going as a pokemon professor because I have a lab coat and plushies of noibat and leafeon, and also the GS ball so I kind of look the part.**

 **Have a spooky Halloween, and stay away from those clowns,**

 **-J. Van A**


	32. On the road again (also I'm back)

**Hello everyone, I'm not dead! I actually had been pretty busy with college work and a course project, so I didn't have much time to write, but I have made a chapter for The Princess and the Rose!**

 **Anyway, I am very tired. Like I said, I had a course project for a class, but it was the class that I was the worst at. I had to program several webpages, which would be fine, but I'm not a programmer. I am a business student that writes fanfiction in his spare time, plays DnD, and stand up comedy every so often. There is no programming in there, but no, _'let's make the programming class a requirement for business students who obviously have no experience in programming.'_**

 **Now then, I'm done venting.**

 **Reviews**

 **1Fanfanatick: We're getting some plot development, don't worry.**

 **Kid Nonexistent: Yay! No sleep buddies!**

 **Star-The-Writer: If only Rooster Teeth did random holiday AU episodes, I could see them making a similar Yang moment to this.**

 **Guest (who saw the twist): everyone saw that twist, I was referring to the whole Yang with pumpkin as the twist.**

 **First FoxyFoxation review: Yes, the one random scorpion was specifically for you. I do like to include ideas from the reviews, for example, there may be a WhiteRose pub scene because of a guest review.**

 **Second FoxyFoxation review: I'm sorry I suck at romance stuff. I was trying to do that for the readers because a bunch of them were asking for it. Seriously, if you think the writing there was bad, I felt terrible writing that.**

 **(pacing) Guest: I'm trying to increase the pacing, but I've also said several times before that this is going to be a long series. There's going to be the White Fang, but after the White Fang there will be the whole ordeal with Cinder, but before the White Fang I plan on doing something to bring in Pyrrha. Also, before I do the White Fang thing there's magic that needs to be learned and I'm probably going to have the group go back to Vale for some reasons. Trust me, this is going to be a long series.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"So, when do we go on an adventure?" Nora asked from the back of her horse as they left Redbarrow on horseback.

"Nora, I don't think we are going to have an adventure every single day," Ren said adjusting his bracers to make sure his daggers were secured under his wrists.

"Boo, we should go fight another giant killer bee," Nora pouted immediately causing Ren and Jaune to shoot her a glare. "What? The honey was delicious."

"We are not doing that. Nora, we nearly died," Jaune scolded her causing the others in the group to be confused.

"I've actually been meaning to ask this, but what happened with the killer bee?" Ruby asked them as she looked up from the map she was trying to read.

"Nothing really," Ren replied as he rode up to Ruby and took the map. "Forest path, desolate ruins, some giant spiders and zombies, then a giant bee hive. Not really important." He pointed at the map. "Ok, so we are here. There are some towns within two days ride, except for Vale, but we'd have to travel through a swamp. Where are we going next?"

"We never did plan to where we were going before leaving," Weiss said placing her forehead in her hand. "We also never did get any more information on the White Fang, and the ruined castle didn't give us any actual leads."

"Blake, is there anything more in the journal from the ruins?" Yang asked as she rode up to the faunus.

"No, I already read through the journal three times to try and find any hidden messages, but I didn't find anything," Blake told her.

"Well then, we have no leads," Ruby said then slumped onto Chestnut's neck. "Should we just go back to Redbarrow in search of more leads."

At that moment a red eyed crow flew above the group and landed on Ruby's shoulder, but the girl didn't even look up. The crow then flapped its wings a couple of times in an attempt to get her attention, but Ruby didn't look up and continued to focus on the ground passing below her.

"Uhh, Ruby," Ren said, but then the crow cawed for a second before jabbing its beak into her head.

"Gah, stupid bird!" Ruby shouted in pain as she tried to swat the bird only to have it fly up for a second and avoid the girl's hands. It then landed on her wrist and pointed its beak at its foot.

"Ruby, why is there a crow on you?" Nora asked from the back of the group as she rode forward to look at the bird. "Can I pet it?"

"No, I think I know this bird," Ruby told her causing the bubbly girl to pout. "Touch it and it will attack your fingers. This is Qrow's crow."

"Crow's crow? Do crows own each other? Is there a crow hierarchy?" She leaned in and stared at the bird. "Take me to your master, little bird, I shall free you and you can be my friend."

"It's not like that, Qrow is my uncle," Ruby told her as the crow pecked Nora's fingers for a second to cause her draw back in pain. "I've seen a crow like this one on his farm every once in awhile when I was working there."

"Maybe it's a messenger bird," Blake said causing the crow to sigh, but that action only confused her for a second because she thought birds couldn't sigh. The bird then pointed its beak at its leg again causing Blake to see a roll of paper there. "It has a message on its leg."

Ruby then took the paper and read it. While she was doing that, the crow hopped off her wrist and perched itself on top of Chestnut's head, causing the horse to be mildly annoyed. She then read aloud, "' _Ruby, I've been researching a lead and found useful info. Travel to Squall's End and listen to townspeople gossip. You and Yang stay safe.'_ And that's it." The crow then cawed angrily before pecking the back of the paper signaling for her to flip it. "Nevermind. ' _This bird's name is Shadow, and I sent him to watch you and your friends. Take care of him. -Qrow'_ "

"So, we now have a bird," Weiss said as she watched Ruby try to pet the underside of the bird's beak only to have it peck at her fingers. "Of course we do. Ren, you seem to know how to use a map. Where is Squall's End?"

"Squall's End is a town east of here, and according to the map, it should be a three days ride," Ren answered her. "And according to the map, there are no towns on the trail there, so we will need to camp."

"We should be relatively safe on the way," Jaune said getting their attention. "Ursai should be going into hibernation soon, and not many beowolf packs are in this area. Though, we may run into bandits, but that is kinda unlikely."

"Ok, so we can plan for running into bandits considering our luck," Yang said looking over to Blake to see her already writing a plan in case of bandits.

"We have an adventure!" Nora exclaimed then made her horse ride into a gallop ahead of the group. "Onward Honeybunch! Let's make this journey two days!"

"She named her horse Honeybunch?" Weiss asked Ren as all of the horses started to run faster after Nora.

"To be fair, this is Nora," he answered her, then clicked a couple of times. "Come on Lotus."

* * *

"How far did we make it? How much of a ride is left?" Nora asked Ren as everyone started working on setting up camp.

"Well Nora, we've covered an astounding, one day's worth of riding," Ren told her, then closed the map before getting to work on setting up his tent. "Now then, can you help me and pound in the stakes on the other side of the tent."

"Sure thing!" Nora said then ran over to the other end of the camp and pressed the wooden stake into the ground slightly before standing back up.

"Now Nora, you just need to hit the stake into the ground so the ropes don't move from the ground, just don't hit it too hard."

"What?" Nora asked looking at Ren with her magic warhammer held above her head preparing to strike. Before Ren could stop her, Nora swung down and slammed the weapon on the simple wooden stake sending it flying into the ground, along with the string, which was also attached to the tent.

"And we're now down a tent," Yang remarked as everyone looked at the scene, but the crow perched on a nearby branch appeared to be laughing. "Looks like someone is going to have to double up." She then looked at Weiss and Ruby. "You two seemed perfectly fine sleeping in the same bed." That only caused Ruby's face to turn a shade of red as she sputtered trying to make a response.

"Or we can just do tent rotations like we did before when Blake didn't have a tent," Weiss said looking away from the sisters.

"I guess I'll take the first watch," Jaune said as he pulled his guitar from his pack and sat down on a large rock nearby, then he began to silently strum his guitar.

* * *

"Weiss, it's your turn," Jaune said nudging the sleeping princess causing her to groan. "I watched the camp and now I'm very tired, so wake up."

"Fine then," Weiss growled as she got up from her bedroll and grabbed the rapier. "I'll read one of Blake's books till it's next watch."

"Whatever you do, just let me sleep," Jaune said laying his own bedroll in the inside of the tent.

As soon as she sat down on the large rock and opened a book, a black bird flew at her and landed on the book to stare at her.

"What do you want?" Weiss asked as she tried to shake the bird off only to have the bird casually balance while keeping its head in the same position. "Seriously, what?" The bird cawed for a second before flying off the book and at Yang's tent. "Is something wrong with Yang?" Another caw before landing on the ground on Yang's tent before hopping in through the flaps. "Ok, something to do with Yang."

As Weiss entered the tent, she saw Yang sprawled on her bedroll with her hair in all directions. Then she noticed Shadow standing next to Yang's ear cawing several times causing her to blindly swing at it, but if her arm came close to Shadow, it would simply fly up blowing a gust of wind at her face. Then it landed on her shoulder for a second and cawed before delivering a quick peck to her cheek which seemed only a minor annoyance to the blacksmith.

"I see," Weiss said as she walked over to Yang's side and delivered a quick powerful kick which instantly woke her up.

"Wha- bandits!?" Yang yelped as she woke up and her hair ignited for a second before seeing Weiss standing there with Shadow now perched on her shoulder. "What's going on?"

"I don't really know, Shadow here bothered me to wake you up for something," Weiss said then the crow flew from her shoulder and onto Yang's gauntlets in the corner of the tent. It then pecked the metal a couple of times then looked at Yang. "I think he wants you to put those on." The bird then cawed before flying out of the tent.

After Yang grabbed her gauntlets, the two of them left the tent to see Shadow perched on the large rock. The bird then flew off into the forest and cawed.

"Should we wake the others up?" Yang asked, but then a sudden caw came from the forest as Shadow flew directly at her and slammed into her gut before flying back into the forest. "I'll take that as a no," she groaned rubbing her abdomen.

"Why are we following a bird?" Weiss asked as they started walking into the forest.

"It's one of Qrow's birds," Yang answered her as they watched Shadow fly ahead and caw to give them its location. "He specially trains them, so they're pretty smart."

"Great," Weiss said as they ran ahead. After several minutes and nearly losing Shadow once, the two teens came to the entrance of a cave with the crow perched on a nearby rock. "A cave, why did you bring us here?" Shadow then cawed before flying into the cave.

"Let's find out then," Yang said then walked into the cave with Weiss trailing behind. A minute in and the cave was pitch black.

"Yang, a light, now," Weiss told her and the blacksmith held her breath for a second before her hair began to glow and the tips ignited. "Thanks."

"Shadow, what are you taking us to?" Yang asked as the crow flew by slowly so the girls could follow easily. The crow cawed for a second then flew to the left into a narrow hall that the girls went down.

After going through the narrow hallway that got to the point of the two squeezing through the stone walls. Suddenly they entered a room that was illuminated by glowing white and yellow crystals. Shadow suddenly flew in front of them before flying to the middle of the room and landing on something.

"Is this what you wanted to show us?" Yang asked as she walked towards the bird having her hair light up the immediate area.

"Yang," Weiss said as she watched the area under shadow get illuminated to reveal something weird, "what is Shadow perched on?"

"What?" Yang asked then looked at the area below the crow to see a stone face. "It seems like noth-" She was suddenly interrupted by the eyes opening and glowing orange. The face suddenly rose as the crystals in the room illuminated to the point that the girls could see the large rock golem clearly, as well as the dead soldiers around the room. "Oh poop." The golem suddenly hit her throwing her back into the wall of the room.

"Yang!" Weiss shouted as she looked at the blacksmith who was breathing heavily, but gave her a quick thumbs up.

"Should've brought my armor," Yang said wincing as she grabbed her side. "I am so strangling that bird when this is over."

Said crow was flying around the room drawing as little attention as possible, but then it flew onto the golem's face and pecked its eye, which seemed to only piss it off. Shadow then flew away from the enraged and perched on a white crystal on the wall. The golem punched directly at the bird giving it just enough time to fly directly down its arm and peck it right in the eye again. The golem's fist then collided with the crystals shattering them, but then ice formed around its hand pinning to the wall. Shadow then flew back and through the narrow hallway just in time for the girls to not notice it leave.

"Yang, the crystals are kind of like magic," Weiss told her, "we can use them to defeat this thing, but I need you to distract the golem."

"Got it," Yang said picking a shield off of a nearby dead knight and held it in her left arm before charging at the golem as Weiss ran off to the right of the room. The golem then ripped its arm out of the ice and swung at Yang.

Weiss ran at the yellow crystals and pulled out her rapier. "Ok, so if white is ice, then hopefully yellow is fire," she said as she stabbed the tip of the rapier into the base of the crystal in order to pull it free.

As that happened, Yang raised the shield in time to block the golem's fist, then she retaliated by punching the rock fist shattering it. The golem punched at her using its other fist, just giving her enough time to block it again, but as she did that it kicked her back several feet.

"Weiss, I hope you have a plan," Yang said as she raised the shield and charged at the golem which was preparing to punch her again.

"So do I, brace yourself!" Weiss shouted as she threw the crystal directly in between the two fighters.

Yang stopped for a second to regain her footing and stand firm just as the yellow crystal was right in front of the shield. The golem destroyed the crystal creating a massive explosion destroying the golem's fist and her own shield causing Yang to slide back. She then bolted forward and ignited her own fist before punching the golem's remaining stub blowing off the rest of the arm.

Weiss took her chance and channeled magic into her rapier while she ran forward at the armless golem. She stabbed the rapier into the stone chest creating ice all over the torso. Then she stabbed her rapier into each leg freezing the golem in place.

Yang jumped back in to punch the golem shattering the freezing stone. The golem's head seemed to be unharmed as its glowing eyes glared at the girls. Weiss stabbed the head freezing it for a second before Yang jumped in with a flaming fist destroying the golem's head.

"So, the crow brought us here, just to have us fight a large golem," Weiss said as Shadow flew back into the room and landed on a nearby white crystal.

"You!" Yang shouted as she punched at the crow only to have it fly out of the way causing Yang to destroy the crystal and freeze her fist to the wall. "Damn it's cold!"

"I think this is what the crow brought us here for," Weiss said walking to the wall and pressed her hand against the crystal. "Imagine what we could do with these crystals, it's basically magic in physical form."

"Alright then, let's grab as much as we can carry," Yang said freeing her arm just in time for Shadow to fly in her face and caw. "What then?"

Shadow flew up on the wall and landed on a small white crystal. It then began to peck at the base of the crystal instantly freeing it allowing it to fall to the ground. As it collided with the ground, both girls flinched expecting an explosion of ice, but nothing happened. It then repeated the process with a same sized yellow crystal. It then landed on the ground next to both crystals and rolled them towards each girl who had the same colored hair.

"So, we're supposed to take that?" Weiss asked causing the crow to caw and roll the white crystal again towards her. Weiss then picked up the crystal and all the white crystals in the room stopped generating light leaving the yellow ones to remain on.

Yang shrugged and grabbed the yellow crystal causing all of the yellow crystals dim down and stop generating light. "Great, now what?" Yang asked as she barely saw Weiss follow Shadow back to the narrow hallway. She slid the crystal into her pocket and followed Weiss and the bird. As the two started sliding through the narrow hallway, Yang noticed movement in the room behind them as all the rocks from the shattered golem rolled together to form another dormant golem sitting in the middle of the room.

* * *

"I'm going to say this again, but doesn't Shadow seem too smart for a crow?" Weiss asked as she and Yang exited the cave.

"Like I said before, Qrow trained it, so it's smarter," Yang replied as she took out the yellow crystal and looked at it. "So, what do you think these are for?"

"I have no Idea," Weiss told her as she slumped over. "All I know is that when we get back to camp, I'm waking up Blake for the next watch."

* * *

"You two seem more quiet than usual," Ruby said to Weiss and Yang after noticing they were trying really hard to stay awake, but nearly falling off their horses. "What happened?"

"Well-" Yang started, but then Shadow flew onto Bumblebee's head and cawed causing Yang's hair to ignite. "You have caused enough already!"

* * *

 **And thus a grand rivalry begins between Yang and Shadow. Yes, there is an apparently smart bird that belongs to Qrow. Hmm...**

 **Anyway, the group is going to get to the next town in the next chapter, but I do typically intend for an encounter to happen on the road in true D &D fashion.**

 **So yeah, Weiss and Yang got to do something interesting. Anyone have any ideas as to what the crystals are?**

 **So, if Nora is worthy to carry the hammer, but Honeybunch can carry Nora holding the hammer. Does that mean Honeybunch is worthy to carry the hammer?**

 **Happy late Thanksgiving everyone! I had three ones in the past week. Two with my parents, which were the most stressful two days of my life, but the third one was with my brother and my friends which means that it was awesomely fun. Also, I made delicious cheesy corn, which if you guys haven't tried cheesy corn, do it. You can find a recipe online. If you use a slow cooker, it is very easy.**

 **Back to not corn, I have more college stuff coming up with finals approaching, but I will try to write more.**

 **Happy post turkey day left over food coma, or just have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	33. The Black Knight

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of this story. I kind of rushed this one, but I wanted to make the group get to the town on time before I hit writer's block and leave the group on the road for like two weeks and then write a short chapter where they get to the town.**

 **Anyway, onto reviews:**

 **Star-The-Writer: The rivalry will continue for a long time.**

 **PMMM WalpurgisNight: Well I mean, they totally aren't visually and function similar to dust, which in the show can be used in semblances like Blake creating rock clones and instead of semblances this story has magic. We'll see what they do.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Honeybunch would be hilarious if it ran into battle carrying the hammer in its mouth, so I may make it worthy in a joking chapter.**

 **Nemasis Demarini: FoxyFoxation wrote in a review that ruby was going to get some cocaine, so I wrote that response. Also, binge read the chapters again? I honestly thought people would give this one read through, well, thanks.**

 **Yaksher: ALL HAIL LORD ELEVATOR, RULER OF ASGARD! Vision is a sentient machine, which is why he can lift the hammer, but he is not worthy of the power, so he can't shoot off lightning. I actually did research on this after your comment. A sentient machine can move the hammer since it isn't a being with a soul, but since it has no soul it can't use the power (though this is speculation from a website of people who spend a lot of time reading the comics, I didn't actually go into the Thor comics for this). That is why Captain America has used the hammer and power in the comics while Vision wasn't able to shoot lightning.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Well, we have one last day of riding ahead of us," Ren said as he looked at the map. "There is going to be a fork in the path that will eventually lead to the town, we just need to stay on the left path and we'll be fine."

"Are you sure it's just a fork in the road?" Blake asked from the front of the group only to earn a nod from Ren. "Well, can you help us out up here?"

"What's wrong?" Ren asked as Lotus trotted up to the front of the group. In front of them were three paths that each went into a forest. "Ok," he looked at the map and rotated it a couple times before keeping it still, "so we might have messed up."

"What are you talking about?" Weiss asked riding up to the two. "Are we going in the opposite direction?"

"No, we're going in the right direction," he answered pointing at the map. "We are here, but two days ago we look a right path when we should have taken the left. The result of that would us being lead to a dense forest instead of some plains, and between the two are a series of hills with rough terrain."

"Ok, so we'll just go through," Yang said as she and Bumblebee started walking to the forest.

"Wait-" Jaune said causing Bumblebee to stop as he rode up to the front of the group and looked at the name of the forest on the map. "We should turn back. This is Wicked Grove, supposedly a haunted forest where few made it through alive. There are tales of a guardian in the forest that is invincible and will kill anyone who tries to pass it. The three paths are to give any travelers a chance at surviving through the forest, but it is impossible to know which path the guardian stands at."

"We can't go back," Weiss said as she took the map and looked at it. "Considering the location of Squall's End, we should be able to take the left path and be closer to the town."

"But the guardian-"

"Jaune, you said there is one guardian and three paths. That means there is a one third chance of us running into him, so we should pick a path and go down it," Weiss said as she directed Snowflake to the front of the third path. "I vote the left one."

"Twenty pieces says we meet the guardian," Nora said to Yang as the two of them started going towards the left path.

"So either you pay me or we die, deal," Yang said then stuck out her hand out and Nora shook it.

"I guess I'm going with you," Ren said as Lotus rode up next to Nora and Honeybunch.

"You guys can't be serious? This is dangerous. Blake?" Jaune looked around only to find Blake in the group behind Yang. "Ruby?"

"Jaune," Ruby said as she rode next to Jaune on her way to the left trail, "We're a team, either we all go down the path together, or we don't."

"Damn it," Jaune said as he rode Clovis onto the left path.

* * *

"Ok, creepy forest perfectly fine so far," Jaune said as the group rode down the path. "Maybe this was the correct path."

"Jaune, what have we said before about J'vana," Ruby said looking at the bard.

"Right, I messed up, didn't I?" Jaune said placing his face in Clovis's mane.

In the distance they could hear the sounds of rushing water. As they rode down the path they came across the sight of a small creek with a bridge just wide enough for a horse to walk on, but standing in front of the bridge was a knight. The knight was wearing a simple suit of armor with a black cloth covering the metal with a red dragon symbol on the chest. He had one sword that he used to rest against similar to a cane, but he did not have a shield which was strange to the others considering that many knights wielded both a sword and shield.

"Hello," Yang greeted the knight causing everyone to shoot her a glare. "What? I'm just being nice."

"Did you not listen to the whole part about death," Jaune whisper yelled at her.

"That was only if we met the guardian," Yang whispered back then turned to the black knight. "Are you the guardian of the forest?" The knight turned his helmet to look at Yang, then back to directly ahead. "Ok, silent."

"Could we possibly pass over the bridge?" Weiss asked as she and Snowflake approached the knight. "We need to get to the next town before tomorrow."

"None shall pass," the man said with a deep voice causing Weiss to stand still.

"Ok…" she said looking back to the group. "I think this is the guardian."

"I think we gathered that," Ren said as he got off his horse and drew his daggers. "If we try to pass, he will try to kill us."

"Hey," Ruby said approaching the bridge, "Is there any way we can pass through without a fight."

"I am the guardian of the bridges, and none shall pass," the knight said turning his helmet towards the red cloaked girl.

"You're the guardian of the bridges?" Jaune asked more confused than curious. "So, being the guardian of the bridge means you will protect the bridge."

"What if we just go around the bridge?" Nora asked the group.

"Nora, he says we cannot pass," Jaune said to her. "If we try to pass I'm sure he'll fight us."

"You said it yourself, he's the guardian of the bridge, but not the forest. I don't think he'll fight us," Nora told him as she pulled the hammer off of her back and aimed it across the creek. "Onward Honeybunch!"

"Nora!" half the group shouted at her as the horse neighed then jumped over the small creek. They all looked at the black knight who was looking at Nora.

"Heh," he said with a small chuckle. "Thirty years protecting the bridges and nobody ever tried that."

"So, are we good to go then?" Weiss asked. Then the knight turned to face back ahead without responding. "Alright everyone, let's go."

While the others followed Nora across the creek, Shadow flew around the black knight before landing on his hands. "Hello, little crow," the knight said lifting his hand up to look at the bird. "You are an animal of the wild, so you may pass." Shadow cawed then flew off to the ground and landed on Nora's shoulder as they all went back down the forest path, but before the black knight was out of sight, Nora turned around and gave him a little wave. She then looked over to Yang who sighed and threw a small bag of gold at Nora.

* * *

"Well, we're making great time," Ren told the group as he put away the map in his pack. "We should be able to make it to Squall's End by mid-afternoon."

"It feels like it's been forever," Nora complained as she slumped over on Honeybunch. "Ren, make us get there faster."

"If I could, I would," Ren told her as both he and Nora took the lead of the group.

"Jaune, are you sure you've never seen anything like these crystals?" Yang asked him as she held the yellow crystal in front of him. Weiss was on the other side of Jaune's horse observing her own crystal channeling her magic into it causing it to light up.

"Yang, I've been telling you for two days, I have no idea what those are," Jaune groaned. "If they have something to do with magic, then it is highly unlikely I would know. Mages are not very common, but many of them form secretive groups. I've only met one mage and I didn't see any crystals anywhere on him, or maybe I did and didn't remember it."

"Ok, so we have no idea what these things are," Yang said then looked ahead. "Ren, you're a mage too. Do you have any idea what these are?"

"I'm _not_ a mage," Ren groaned from the front of the group. "It is called chi, not magic. I can channel energy from my body to heal or perform other similar actions."

"That sounds like magic," Weiss said as she put the white crystal inside her side pouch.

"It's not magic," Ren told her, the agitation very clear in the tone of his voice.

"Look," Blake said pointing forward. Shortly ahead of the group the forest ended revealing a wide grassy plain and a dirt trail. Further down the path they could see the ocean and a somewhat large town that was roughly half the size of Vale. "I believe that is Squall's End."

"Race ya!" Ruby exclaimed as she spurred Chestnut and began to ride down the path. Nora was the next to join the race being very enthusiastic about it. Then Yang joined in shortly followed by the rest of the group.

The race lasted for roughly twenty minutes before the group made it to the stables with Ruby being the winner because Chestnut had a head start and was naturally faster. After paying the owner of the stables, they each made their way into the town. Shadow was still perched on Ruby's shoulder, but was constantly looking around.

It was at that point, the group noticed there was something different about this town. The residents were mostly gruff looking people with tribal looking tattoos along with a permanent scowl on their faces. Some of the people in the streets wore hooded cloaks and had cloth wrapped around their faces.

"Everyone, keep an eye on your coin purses," Blake said as she adjusted her black cloak so it covered her entire body. "It appears we're in a mercenary town. Just don't cause trouble, and Weiss, it would be in your best interest to cover your head."

"Why is that?" she asked, then Blake pointed at her own eyes and hair reminding Weiss of the Schnee's most definable features. "Right." She then pulled her cloak over her hair causing the others to be confused.

"She looks rich," Blake quickly gave an excuse. "Since she's more likely to be seen in a crowd, she is more likely to be a mark."

"I'd like to see someone take my coin purse," Yang said, but then Ren quickly bumped into her. He then walked around her and held up her coin purse. "What? How?" she asked looking at her belt to find her purse missing.

"Sleight of hand," he said handing the pouch back to her. "Just put the bag in a pouch on your belt and make sure it is closed." As she did that, the others in the group did the same.

Suddenly, Shadow cawed and flew off of Ruby's shoulder. They were confused, but quickly followed the bird down the street. They followed it for a couple minutes until the bird landed next to the entrance to a local tavern.

"What is it, Shadow?" Ruby asked when the crow flew unto the door as soon as it was opened by a patron about to leave.

They entered the tavern to see most of the patrons confused as to why there was a bird in the tavern. Shadow flew around for a couple seconds before landing on the bar next to a patron who was laying on the counter with an empty tankard next to his head. The barkeep was standing behind the counter with a broom raised over his head preparing to strike the bird. As he swung down, before the group could do anything, the patron laying on the counter raised his hand and caught the broom.

"Don't harm the bird," a familiar voice said ripping the broom from his hand and threw it across the tavern. He then stood up revealing the black and gray hair three of the girls recognized as Qrow. "I'm rather attached to this one."

"If it's your stupid bird, make sure it doesn't cause a disturbance," the barkeeper said as he took Qrow's empty tankard and walked away.

"Now, if you're here, then that means one of two things," Qrow said as Shadow landed on his finger. He turned and saw Weiss, Yang, and Ruby. "Oh good, it was the good one," then he saw the rest of the group, "oh no, there are more of them."

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby exclaimed as she bolted forward, seemingly teleporting to tackle-hug the man. Shadow had enough time to fly off his finger to avoid being crushed.

"Hey, kid," Qrow said ruffling her hair. "Mind telling me who these people are?"

* * *

 **I was so tempted to make a whole Monty Python Holy Grail moment with the black knight, but then I decided to make Nora be the problem solver. Also, I feel like people were thinking that Shadow was actually Qrow in disguise because everyone suspects that being Qrow's semblance, but I felt like being a troll in this chapter.**

 **So yeah, Qrow's going to be in the next few chapters. Points to Blake for protecting Weiss from the mercenaries and other shady people. I'm actually thinking of doing a quick scare for Weiss soon, which will be interesting, and possibly reveal who she really is.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	34. Inside Man

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A, refreshed after finishing finals. Seriously, I wrote a large portion of this chapter shortly after I released the last one, then I had to do projects and finals, and a take home final that required nine pages of answers and in-depth rhetorical analysis of advertisements. After that was done I was so drained that I started playing Dragon Age inquisition and was able to play for eleven hours without moving a muscle except for my hands. When I finally moved, I thought I had broken all my bones from the amounts of popping and cracking.**

 **So yeah, then I fell asleep for twelve hours and I finished this. That basically describes my week thus far, but tomorrow I'm going to a midnight showing of Star Wars Rogue One.**

 **On to reviews:**

 **GrnDgrnzrd: Who knows, maybe there will be a fork in the future. How do you know I'm not actually writing this under a bridge?**

 **Star-The-Writer: Ruby hugs Weiss as Nora hugs Ren. "This is my squishy," Ruby and Nora say in unison. Ren and Weiss exchange confused looks.**

 **Mossblomma: I really wanted to do some different banter at that part. "None shall pass." "What if we just walk around." Black knight looks around. "I don't know why not." "Ok, we're going around." "Alright then, off you pop."**

 **Kayda-Starr: Ozpin actually specified that he doesn't manipulate Glynda.**

 **(Bridge Knight fan) Guest: I actually had thought Roosterteeth would troll the RWBY fans by having him not actually being able to shapeshift, so I put Shadow in to be a troll, but after the latest episode, well, spoilers.**

 **(Update) Guest: Guess what today is?**

 **Yaksher: Yeah, yeah that would be a bad thing.**

 **yuseixakiza641: I think Thor would probably win considering he being a Norse god. Then also he has had thousands of years of combat experience.**

 **Nemasis Demarini: When I started the story, I tried to make it one chapter per week, sometimes two. When I was busy with school work I would update less often. Since I'm now on semester break I'll be able to update more often. I may also take longer to write chapters is I am making a longer chapter, but I typically inform everyone when that is happening in the AN. So, the update schedule is hopefully going to be one a week.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Ok, so let me get this straight," Qrow said then took a drink from his tankard as the whole group sat around the table. He pointed at Jaune. "You joined the group in Vale to make a song." He pointed at Blake. "You joined the group after Ruby got bit by some zombies. Weiss healed her with magic, that she and Yang now apparently have. Then you guys went to a castle ruin, fought and killed two demons. Went back to Redbarrow and decided to visit a carnival, and that's where you two come in." He pointed at Ren and Nora. "The boy is a mage who doesn't call himself a mage, and the girl is carrying the magical weapon Magnhild. Is that correct?"

"Pretty much, except for this," Yang said then pulled her yellow crystal from her pouch and placed it on the table. "Weiss and I were led to a cave by Shadow where we had to fight a golem."

"It's not that surprising," he said picking up the crystal causing shadow to caw at him. "Yes I know I'm not supposed to touch this for long." He inspected the crystal for a second before placing it back on the table to the sight of confused teens. "Shadow is a special crow. His family was specifically bred for speed, stronger beaks, and magic sensing, which was why he found you guys."

"So, do you know what the crystal is?" Weiss asked him as Shadow hopped up Qrow's arm and perched itself on his shoulder.

"That is a focus crystal," he told them. "It is a special kind of crystal that all mages find at some point. Some people think that those are living crystals that are specifically made for a mage and that they appear in certain caves all across Remnant." He paused to take a drink. "Now, how mages work is that they have much more magic than they appear to have normally, but all that magic is dangerous and they can't access all of it. What the crystals do is help focus a mage's magic safely, but you can't just hold the crystal and it will work. You need a conduit. Most mages will attach their crystal to a staff, but some others will connect it to a more rational item, like swords or armor."

"So, we need to attach these to our weapons," Yang said pulling off one gauntlet and reaching for a crystal before Qrow stopped her.

"It's not that easy," he said. "You need a blacksmith who specializes in magic to properly attach the crystals, otherwise it is useless."

"Ok, well where are we going to find one of those?" Ruby asked. "If we can have those two powered up, then we should do it as soon as possible."

"There are no blacksmiths like that anywhere near here," he said then stood up beckoning for them to follow. They did following him towards the door. "I'm sure you guys noticed this as soon as you entered the town, this is a mercenary city. There are people in this town related to the White Fang, but I've yet to find them." They left the tavern and started walking down the road. "I've been put in charge of investigating the White Fang's assassination of the Queen of Atlas, but we've received some information about the White Fang having help with that on the inside."

Weiss immediately froze at the mention of that, but since she was at the back of the group, nobody saw the panic now spread on her face. Blake was the only one who looked back with a worried expression. Weiss's heart was now furiously pounding in her chest as she thought about all of the people in the castle who could have betrayed her family and work with the White Fang.

"So, you need help searching for the White Fang's helpers," Ren concluded.

"Yes, we don't know exactly who they are, but they are part of human trafficking," Qrow replied causing Blake, Ren, and Nora to flinch. "I'm only one man, but if I had all of you combing the town, we could probably find them."

"Weiss, we actually have a lead on the White Fang," Ruby said looking over to the white haired girl only to see her expression. "Weiss?"

She didn't say anything, but her heavy breathing was now pretty obvious. Weiss then wrapped her arms around herself and turned away from the group. Before anyone could say anything, she bolted off.

"Weiss!" Ruby shouted as she started running after her, but she stopped for a second and looked at everyone. "I'll go after her and bring her back soon."

"What's wrong with her?" Nora asked Ren who shrugged while Blake started to think back to when she was in the White Fang.

* * *

"Weiss, wait up!" Ruby shouted to the white haired girl as she tried to slip through the crowds of people without slamming the blade of Crescent Rose into them. It was then that Ruby could feel the freezing cold air she was moving forward. Other people in the area began to notice Weiss as well, which was bad considering the looks they were giving her.

"Weiss!" Ruby shouted as she grabbed her wrist. Suddenly she had to remove her hand by the sheer cold of Weiss's skin. Weiss turned around causing her hood to fall and Ruby could immediately see that she was three shades paler. The look of panic on her face now seems to be more fearful. "Weiss, what is wrong?" she asked as she held her hand trying to heat it up.

"The White Fang, they are here," Weiss said as her eyes scanned the area looking at several faunus only earning her more looks from the crowd.

"Yes, we actually have a lead Weiss. Now, if we want to find them, we need to get back to Qrow and the others," Ruby said as she held out her hand to Weiss. "Come on, the others are waiting for us."

"Ok," Weiss said as she reached out her hand to take Ruby's, only to pause and draw back her hand. She then made sure her magic wasn't freezing her hand before she grabbed Ruby's hand giving it a squeeze. "Ok, let's go."

Ruby lead Weiss partway down the street before stopping. "Weiss," Ruby said as she looked around, "I don't know where we are."

* * *

"Ok, I think we lost the squirts," Qrow said as he pulled his flash from his belt and took a drink. "Shadow, you know what to do." The crow on his shoulder cawed, then flew off into the city. "That should take care of that problem." He turned to the others and took another drink from his flask before putting it back on his belt. "Alright, so we're going to have you guys break off into teams. Boys go one way, girls go the other sound good?"

"But uncle Qrow, shouldn't we wait for Ruby and Weiss to come back?" Yang asked as she walked toward the red eyed reaper.

"We'd be wasting time then," Qrow said as he pointed at Ren and Jaune then pointed behind him gesturing for them to go down the street. "Shadow will find them and then bring them to us."

"But-" Yang said but Qrow placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Ruby can handle herself, you've seen her handle things much more dangerous than a shady town. She'll be fine," Qrow reassured her. "Also, she had Weiss with her, so she'll be safe."

"Isn't that always something you guys tell everyone not to say?" Nora asked turning to Blake who was now deep in thought. "Blake?"

* * *

"Ruby, I don't think this is the right direction," Weiss said as Ruby kept leading her through the empty streets by hand only to stop and see the same blacksmith shop sign they had passed three times by now.

"What is wrong with this town?" Ruby asked angrily as she pointed at the sign. "We've been walking for ten minutes and I've turned left last time and went straight, but we still wound up here."

"Something is wrong," Weiss said looking around. "When we started walking, there were people everywhere, now I don't see anyone around."

"Actually, now that you mention it," Ruby said letting go of Weiss's hand. Weiss immediately saw the area change from the middle of the street to the inside of a large empty building. "It does seem weird."

"Ruby, I think someone has been using magic to mess with us," Weiss told her as she drew her rapier and looked around. "Whoever is behind this, show yourselves!"

"Weiss, maybe we should go into the blacksmith shop and ask the owner for help," Ruby said as she grabbed Weiss's cloak and tugged a little.

"Ruby, there is no blacksmith shop," Weiss said as she turned to look at Ruby. She froze as she saw Ruby's silver eyes now a dull gray. "You're still being affected by the magic."

"What?" Ruby asked as she looked around. "None of this is real?" She reached to her back and drew Crescent Rose before getting into a fighting stance. "Weiss, you're going to have to be my eyes until this wears off."

"That won't be necessary," a new voice said causing both girls to stand back to back and look around.

"Do you need me any longer?" a female voice asked somewhat annoyed.

"No, my dear, you have been invaluable to our little operation the past week. Now, there is a knight in town searching for us, and I think your employer would be angry if you were to be caught," he said then there was the sound of a door opening. "We'll just add these two to the next shipment to Vacuo and we'll be out of here."

"Actually, just one, the other is interesting and my employer will want her. I'll send someone over tonight to pick her up," she said then the door closed.

Ruby's vision immediately cleared as they saw two large doors open and ten armed men walked into the building. The two of them gripped their weapons and prepared to fight as the doors began to close. Just as Ruby took her first step, the man in the middle raised his hand and a bright flash happened. The two were blinded for just a second, but during that time two of the armed man bolted forward and knocked the girls out.

* * *

 **-insert evil laugh-**

 **I kind of wanted to put in some more stuff leading to the ending, but I figured if I wanted to get to the regular update schedule, I would need to bring the smaller chapter size back.**

 **That being said, the next chapter is probably going to be a bit longer.**

 **My computer is about to update soon, so I've gotta finish this AN and post.**

 **I did touch up on some plot points. Who was the inside man? Will Weiss and Ruby be ok? Who was the mysterious woman part of the kidnappers?**

 **Anyway, I have to go, I'll update soon.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	35. The Princess and the Torch

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of this story. I would've posted this yesterday, but my internet decided to screw with me when I was writing the A/N so I couldn't save this. Now I have to try to remember what I written before my laptop tried reloading the edit doc page.**

 **Anyway, everyone pretty much instantly guessed it was Emerald because I made her magic the same as her semblance. So yeah, Cinder's faction now has a confirmed mage.**

 **On to reviews:**

 **AryaFlame: We've already talked about this.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: J'vana, god of coincidences and master of suspense! It kind of has a nice ring to it. Also, it could be a normal bridge if I lived in a box, or an underground cave.**

 **FoxyFoxation: Yes, my mastery of suspense precedes me. I think if you are asking it as a question it should have a question mark. I often can't english, so you're fine.**

 **Star-The-Writer: You're one third correct.**

 **Shadowbane2243: Tis but a flesh wound.**

 **Nemasis Demarini: No problem**

 **Nut-lik: I was wondering where you had gone around last chapter. Glad you're back.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"So, umm, Mr. Qrow?" Jaune asked then Qrow turned around to look at him. Jaune immediately saw an angry concerned glare before his face turned back to normal. "Do you have any ideas where we should go to search for the White Fang?"

"Well, if we're searching for human traffickers, then we should begin our search at the docks," Qrow said as he looked around the area. "You, Ren, you used to be a slave. You should be able to help out in this search. Also, just call me Qrow."

"How did you know I used to be a slave?" Ren asked the red eyed man.

"You and two of the girls flinched earlier when I mentioned the slavers. So it's easy to conclude that you guys were slaves," Qrow said confusing both of them as to who the third person was. "Let's get over to the docks."

* * *

"Gah! That's it, I'm going!" Yang shouted in frustration as she left the general goods store her hair flickering behind her.

"What's wrong with blondie?" the store owner asked the remaining two girls as Yang slammed the door behind her.

"Oh, her sister is missing, we have a crow searching for her," Nora explained confusing the store owner for a second.

"Well, I've been in this town since its decline into the mercenary town it is now. During that time I've noticed patterns of people missing," the owner said as he reached into his counter and pulled out a map then pointed at a building. "We are here, and people and their belongings end up being sold around this area." He pointed at several dotted map points. "Each by themselves seem random, but all together they seem to point in the direction of the docks."

"Thank you," Blake said and placed a couple pieces of silver on the counter before taking the map and running out of the store to catch up with Yang.

"Well, I was just showing her the map, it wasn't for sale," the shop owner remarked as he took the silver pieces while Nora ran out to meet them.

"Yang, Yang, I think I have an idea where they might've gone," Blake said as she ran up to Yang and opened the map. "The shop owner said that the most probable location to find missing people would be at the docks. If Ruby and Weiss are gone, then that is where we should look."

"Let's go," Yang said cracking her knuckles.

* * *

"Son of a grimm," Weiss cursed as she woke up feeling something cold on her neck. She tried to move only to realize that she was tied to a chair.

"Weiss, is that you?" Ruby asked from behind her. Weiss turned her head to the side to see her as Ruby did the same. "Ok good, it's you. After they knocked us out, they took our weapons and armor, but we still have the special chainmail since they probably thought it was regular cloth."

"Well, they didn't take my magic," Weiss said as she faced forward and began to focus.

"But we did think that through," the kidnapper said walking into the room. The two girls looked to the door and saw a man wearing a large coat with a large brown fur lapel. "That thing on your neck is designed to disrupt your magic so we don't have any frostbite incidents."

"Who are you?!" Weiss shouted at him as he approached them.

"Well, since it won't matter much longer, my name is Emmit Krevil. I run this little operation that one of you will be joining," he said tapping Ruby's nose, "but before that happens, the other will be meeting with a man I never did like, and you will be going with him."

"We're not going anywhere," Ruby growled at him. She tried to launch herself and the chair at the man only to have him throw her off to the side making her land on her face.

"Even with your legs tied to the chair, you seem to be very mobile. I guess they'll have to break you of that where you're going," he said picking her up be the backrest of the chair and placing her back down next to Weiss. "I hope you're not afraid of a little shock every now and again."

"Emmit, quit trying to scare the girl," a new voice said as a man with orange hair wearing a white jacket and black hat entered the room making point to tap his cane loudly on the floor as he entered the room. He rested on his cane and looked at Ruby with his green eye. "You're terrible at it. Anyway, they use whips before they bother to go with the binding magic. They seem to like the crack it makes when it hits human skin."

"Roman Torchwick, my friend," Emmit said as he was about to give Torchwick a handshake. Torchwick quickly twisted the handle of his cane and pulled it off revealing a two foot long thin blade. He thrusted the blade into Emmit's head from under his jaw.

"Now then, with that loose end out of the way," he said pulling the blade out of Emmit's head, cleaned it off, then re-inserted it into the cane. "When my lovely assistant finally decides to get here, she will escort you down to the docks, then we will be able to leave."

"Wait," Weiss interrupted him. "How much are these people paying you for my capture?"

"What?" Torchwick asked raising an eyebrow.

"I'm sure it may seem like a large amount, but I can promise you a whole lot more if you would like to make a deal," she said causing Torchwick to lean against his cane to look at Weiss closely and smile. "A person like Ruby could sell for a couple hundred gold, and I'm sure the White Fang would be willing to pay you a lot more for my capture, but if you let Ruby go and take me to my father, he would reward you with enough gold to last you the rest of your life."

"Weiss?" Ruby asked looking at her.

"Oh really, and who might you be?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

Weiss looked at Ruby for a second before turning back to face Torchwick and sighed. "My name is Weiss Schnee, second in line to the throne of Atlas."

"Oh, I seem to be in the presence of royalty," he gave a mockingly quick bow, "Princess."

"You're a princess?" Ruby asked Weiss as Torchwick stood back up.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Roman asked Ruby as he walked to her. "How confusing this must be for you. You see, that may seem like a great offer that I would've taken a couple years ago, but I will have to decline. This little girl is worth more than the king himself."

* * *

"Ok, these ships all look pretty much the same," Jaune remarked as the three guys walked down the street near the boats. "All I can tell the differences between the ships are the patterns on their sails."

"That is because you are not looking closely," Qrow told him and then pointed at four ships. "That ship is called a hoy ship, a while ago it was used for naval combat and protection for cargo ships. That ship to the left is called a cog ship which is primarily used in trade. The next ship is a caravel ship which is primarily used for exploration. The fourth ship is called a carrack ship which is primarily a ship designed for long voyages."

"So, what are you saying?" Jaune asked him.

"Depending on the type of ship, we can eliminate possibilities for the slaver's ship," Ren told him before the knight began. "The hoy ship is, as Qrow said, used for naval combat, so there isn't much storage space, so many people wouldn't fit. The cog ship could easily be a slave ship because of its large cargo hold, though with its single mast, it only travels a short distance."

"What was the ship you travelled in?" Qrow asked him as they approached the ships.

"I don't really remember," Ren told them. "The slavers fed us some food that made us silent, and none of us really remember what happened."

"That's not surprising," Qrow explained. "It is a common practice for slavers to drug the people they kidnap. If the slaves are docile, they are more likely to not stage a coup." He turned back to Ren. "Do you remember any details, no matter how small?"

"Well," Ren said as he thought back, "I vaguely remember the cargo hold, and there were a lot of people in there with Nora and I."

"I guess that helps a bit," Qrow told him as he walked down to the wooden docks.

* * *

"So, where do we need to go?" Yang asked as they neared the docks.

"Anyone who knows who Weiss is, would not bring her directly to the docks, she's too valuable to be stored with others… An ice mage over water would not be that great of an idea," Blake quickly explained before the others asked what she meant.

"Yeah, I guess so," Yang said as she looked around. "So, if they won't bring Weiss and Ruby to their boat, then they should be in a building nearby."

"So that means we should split up to find them," Nora suggested as she looked at a nearby building.

"That may not be necessary," Blake said as she pointed up and ahead. "There is a crow circling a large warehouse up ahead."

"If that's Shadow, then that means he found Ruby," Yang said then started running down the street.

* * *

"This is rich," Roman said laughing to himself. "You've probably lived your whole life thinking that you were one of the most important people on Remnant. Now you learn that someone is more important than you."

"Why am I more valuable?" Ruby asked Roman causing him to lean over her.

"Well, I can assume that you are a knight from your armor I saw on the way in, and your weapon is similar to the Elite Knight, Scarecrow's, so I can assume you're a knight from Fort Beacon," Roman said to her.

"I'm not a knight, I'm just a farm hand," Ruby told him. "Really, I'm nobody."

"Ha, hahahaha," Roman just burst out laughing. "That just makes this so much better. A lowly farm hand is worth more than the princess of Atlas. Then again, a reward is only good if you give the prize to the right person. I'm sure the White Fang would love to get their hands on the princess, but my employer would be more interested in you."

"Who are you working for?" Weiss asked him.

Roman sighed and walked over to her. "Wouldn't you like to know? Well, your friend here is going to find out. You, on the other hand, are probably never going to find out. It would be a real shame to send you off to work as a slave. I'm sure at some point you would just reveal your real status to the slavers and would be delivered to your father, then go back to live as royalty. Maybe I could bring you along and deliver you to the White Fang," he said causing Weiss to look somewhat scared. "Though, bringing you alive would only cause trouble and the two of you would probably attempt to escape together." He twisted the handle of his cane. "I'm also certain that Adam Taurus would enjoy news of your presence, or maybe even your head."

"Wait, don-" Ruby nearly shouted, but was interrupted by Roman drawing his cane's blade. He quickly swung the blade at Weiss striking her across her chest throwing her out of her chair and to the ground. "Weiss!"

"I guess I can add, 'killed a princess,' to my list of things I've done," Roman told himself as he turned around to look at Ruby. "I guess I'll have Neo steal a jar or something. Hmm?" He looked at Ruby who had her hair draped over her eyes and was gritting her teeth. "Ah, right, you actually did care for your friend."

* * *

 **Hahahahahaha! And the suspense continues! Speaking of suspense, while I was writing this chapter I have been re-watching the anime Ghost Hunt. If anyone has watched this show knows how good it is. My favorite story arc is the Bloodstained Labyrinth, both for story and creepiness factor. Actually, I'm watching the second episode as I'm writing this.**

 **Anyway, so Roman was the one sent to collect Ruby, not Weiss. I figured it would make more sense than to bring Tyrian in this early.**

 **Did anyone see that there's going to be a new Blade Runner movie soon, I'm actually excited for it.**

 **Well, I'm sure I missed a lot I was going to talk about in the A/N, but my stupid computer said "Screw you Van, you don't get to post this a day early."**

 **Well, I hope you guys don't experience the same internet BS I had to deal with.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	36. Put down those pitchforks-PUT THEM DOWN!

**Hello everyone, this is a very sleep deprived J. Van A, and I think everyone knows what that means. Yep. This chapter is either going to be great or everyone is going to hate me, or maybe a little of both. I mean, I've done some good chapters in the past where I've been very sleep deprived, but those ones I've done the sleep deprived part near the end and editing. this chapter I've done completely sleep deprived. I started at 11 pm and I finished at 7 am.**

 **I would have done this throughout the week, but I went back to my parents house for Christmas and that place has: snail speed internet, my parents, my siblings (I actually enjoyed hanging out with them, and I swear a virus that makes my computer try to kill itself.**

 **Anyway, I should probably get to reviews. The faster I get this AN done, the faster I can go to bed.**

 **Reviews:**

 **CyberBUNNEH: Ozpin's Emerald emerald was kind of a reference to Emerald's semblance, from the day I posted that chapter I had planned to make Emerald a mage. Also, Cinder would kind of make sense to be a mage.**

 **FoxyFoxation: Because I want to.**

 **Star-The-Writer: Basically. You're probably going to like this chapter then. *long censor beep*. Suspense is always fun.**

 **AryaFlame: It helps the story. I also like cliffhangers.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Very punny.**

 **Rapter267: You may be tired for just this chapter then. I promise.**

 **.1690(1): Yeah, I decided to just have Nora do random stuff for a while.**

 **.1690(2): Well, thanks.**

 **(Sassy) Guest: You don't have to worry about that.**

 **Nemasis Demarini: Well, I think I've said before that I never thought that this story would be worthy to be re-read. So thanks for that.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

As the girls approached the building, Shadow spotted them and flew onto Blake's shoulder. It would have landed on Yang's, but her armor was currently very hot.

"Shadow, is that where Ruby is?" Yang asked the bird, causing it to caw in confirmation. "Let's go then." She turned to walk to the building.

"Wait," Blake said as she grabbed Yang's arm long enough to stop her, but also long enough to burn her hand slightly. "Look." She peeked around the corner and saw a group of ten men standing by two large doors. "Guards. We can't just head straight, we need a plan. I see two archers, three sword and shield fighters, three mages, and two twin dagger rogue."

"Blake, I can't waste any time fighting while Ruby is in that building," Yang told her.

"Well," Nora said looking around then pointed at a building next to the warehouse, "why don't you just jump from that roof and into the warehouse window."

"Nora, that won't work," Blake told her. "If she misses the window, then she slams into the building and alerts the guards. If she does break through, it alerts any guards in the building to her location."

"If there are any guards in the second floor hallway, it makes them go in close quarters combat with Yang, which is the best combat for her," Nora said. "When Yang breaks in, we'll fight those ten guards. I have the magic hammer, so the fight is more even."

"That kind of makes sense. Yang-" Blake said and turned to Yang only to see that the brawler had disappeared. "Where did she go?"

"After I suggested my idea the first time, Yang ran over to the building and is currently making her way to the roof," Nora told her as she pulled the hammer off of her back and got into a fighting stance.

"Of course she is," Blake said placing her hand on her katana handle getting into a fighting stance as Shadow flew off of her shoulder and started circling the area in front of the doors. "When she jumps, we fight. We may have to kill people, are you going to be ok with that?"

"As long as we can save Weiss and Ruby, I'm fine," Nora said as Yang stood at the edge of the roof.

She backed up and ran forward before jumping. As soon as Yang jumped, the two girls turned around the corner.

* * *

"I think we found the ship," Qrow said as the three men neared a large boat. The boat in question was a large caravel ship bearing the insignia of a giant red bear paw on the sails and flag. The crew of the ship seemed normal enough, but there were archers stationed on the eagle's nest and quarterdeck. "I'll need you guys to distract the crew long enough for me to deal with the archers."

"Are you going to climb the mast?" Jaune asked as the three of them started to approach the ship.

"Just cover me," Qrow said pulling the broadsword off of his belt causing the other two to draw their weapons. This action did not go unnoticed, because the crew members drew their swords as the archers readied their bows.

One of the crew members pulled the wooden plank back on board. Qrow smirked then jumped forward, clearing the distance between the dock and ship landing on the deck. Ren followed Qrow landing right next to the knight. Jaune tried to jump over the gap only to grab onto the ledge having his legs dangle against the ship.

There was an uncomfortable silence as all the crew stared at Jaune while Qrow and Ren stood motionless in a fighting stance staring at everyone with their weapons ready. Jaune struggled for a minute until he managed to pull himself up. Jaune then straightened his shield before getting into a fighting stance.

The closest crew member let out a battle cry then charged forward with his cutlass. Qrow parried his sword with ease before spinning around and beheading him. The closest crew member to Ren ran at him, but Ren caught the cutlass with his first dagger and diverted it before slashing across the man's chest with the second one. Then Ren kicked the man backwards into another crew member stunning them both.

One charged at Jaune, but he raised his shield in time to block it. He then countered by slashing with his sword cutting deep into the man's chest. Jaune shield bashed the man in the head next instantly knocking him out. Another one ran to Jaune, but he swung his shield in time to catch the cutlass then slashed at him throwing the man to the ground.

Ren bolted forward and slashed at a man's chest three times in a blink of an eye before stabbing deep into his abdomen. While he did that, Ren parried another sword with his free dagger before pulling his other dagger out and stabbing the closest crew member in the ribs.

With those two distracting the crew, Qrow ran forward to right next to the main mast. He swung his broadsword at the mast cutting clean through. He then kicked the front side of the mast causing the main mast to tilt. It then fell over causing the eagle's nest to slam directly into the quarterdeck killing each of the archers. That much destruction caused everyone on board to stop fighting.

Qrow then jumped on top of the cut down mast. He sheathed his broadsword before pulling the collapsible scythe from his belt and extending it to its full length.

"I am the Elite Knight, Scarecrow," Qrow announced to the crew causing several people to show terror on their faces. "If you abandon the ship and run away from this town, you shall be allowed to live. Anyone who stays will be killed."

The crew all looked at each other, then dropped their swords before jumping off the ship, some to the docks, others into the water.

* * *

"Well, frankly I'm surprised that you didn't find out she was a princess," Roman said grabbing the back of Ruby's chair and picking her up in order to meet her face-to-face. "The Schnee's have a very distinct appearance. Also, after being with her for so long, I'm surprised you didn't find-" Roman was interrupted by Ruby suddenly headbutting his nose. That immediately caused him to drop her and grab at his nose. "You know what, Little Red, you might not even be worth my time," he winced as he reset his nose causing Ruby to wince slightly by the noise, "but if I kill you, I'm dead." He walked over to Ruby again and grabbed the back of her chair. He raised the seat slightly, but then he threw Ruby across the room and into a wall. "But I'm sure they won't mind me roughing you up a bit."

"Let me out of this chair and we'll see if you can," Ruby growled as she glared up at him.

"Little Red, Little Red, now why would I do that?" Roman asked her as he sauntered over to Ruby twirling his cane in his hand. He then caught the end of his cane with his other hand in order to stop it. Suddenly, he kicked Ruby in the abdomen robbing her of her breath. "Why would I possibly give you a chance to fight against me." Another kick just as she was beginning to breath in. "What was your plan for getting out of this? Challenge me to a duel?" Another kick causing Ruby to feel lightheaded from lack of oxygen. "Clearly you're trained for combat." Kick. "You wouldn't just bring an oversized gardening tool to a town full of mercenaries with no training." He then kicked her three times forcing Ruby to cough spitting some blood onto the warehouse floor. "Also, you were travelling with the princess, until recently," he kicked her several more times causing her to cough up blood with each kick. "And that turned out _so_ well for you." Then made a motion like he was about to kick her, but stopped to watch as she tried to curl around and protect herself. Roman just let out a small chuckle as he listened to Ruby struggle to breathe. After that, he started to swing his cane downward hitting Ruby in the ribs and chest causing her to cough out even more blood. Finally he took one more swing upward throwing Ruby into the wall breaking the chair. He then walked over to her and grabbed a fist full of her hair to pick her off of the ground. He leaned in just so he could whisper in her ear. "If you think this is painful, you're going to be surprised after I deliver you to Cinder."

From behind him, Roman heard the sounds of a small metallic crack. He turned his head far enough to see Weiss standing there with her bloodied hands at her neck gripping onto the magical inhibitor, the metal cutting into her palms. "Get. Your hands. Off. RUBY!" Weiss shouted as the inhibitor broke in half. Suddenly, a blast of cold air blasted from Weiss throwing both Roman and Ruby back. The second blast of cold air instantly coated the floor and ceiling with a small layer of ice. Ruby had landed on the ground with her back to Weiss, so only Roman has his hair formed a small layer of frost.

* * *

As Blake and Nora ran around the corner, Blake reached to her belt and pulled out two shuriken. She threw each of them with enough accuracy to cut both archers' bowstrings. Nora jumped in the air raising her hammer above her head. The head of the hammer started to crackle with electricity before Nora slammed the weapon into the ground causing a cone of electricity to hit one of the archers, a twin dagger rogue, a mage, and two of the sword and shield fighters. The archer was instantly knocked out. The twin dagger rogue's left arm went limp, but still stood. The rest of the people hit by the electricity were fine after shrugging off the hit.

Blake ran up to the twin dagger rogue Nora didn't hit, and quickly drew her katana instantly cutting off his head. The archer next to Blake pulled two arrows from his quiver, and with his hands he stabbed both arrows into her shoulders. Blake retaliated from that attack by jumping in the air doing a sideways spin in order to slice his head and chest vertically, killing him.

The mage Nora hit with her attack shot off a lightning bolt at Blake, but Nora's hammer drew the electricity to it causing the weapon to glow blue revealing ancient looking runes. Nora then jumped at one of the sword and shield fighters and swung her hammer at him giving him just enough time to block with his shield. Not only did the hammer electrocute him, but it dented the shield for a second before blowing straight through destroying his arm and throwing him back into a wall through it.

Blake pulled out her kusarigama with her free hand before throwing it at one of the mages who did not attack anyone. Before the kusarigama hit him, the twin dagger rogue with the limp arm bolted in front of the blade and deflected it with his dagger. The mage behind him muttered something for a second before touching the rogue's arm causing it to begin to move again.

Blake then ran forward with her katana and stabbed through the rogue's heart in order to stab the mage in the middle of his chest. She then pulled the katana out just in time to jump backwards avoiding the rogue's last attempt to hurt Blake before he died.

The third mage moved his hands in front of himself for a second before bringing them both together and blasting Blake with a giant beam of light throwing her back into a nearby pile of wooden crates. Nora saw this and jumped at the light mage swinging her hammer downwards. The hammer collided with the mage's head killing him and throwing him into the ground.

One of the two remaining sword and shield fighters ran up to attack Nora's exposed back. Just before he could slash at her, Blake's kusarigama wrapped around the man's sword and hand holding him back. Nora spun around and hit the man with her hammer throwing him directly away from Blake. As he was thrown, Blake was pulled from the crates back into the fight. When she came close to the last sword and shield fighter, she swung her katana cutting through his abdomen down to his spine killing him.

After all that was over, both Blake and Nora walked up to the lightning mage. Nora decided to set down her hammer next to the mage then pushed the hammer down enough to pin the mage down with the hammer's shaft. Blake bolted forward and knocked out the mage.

* * *

Yang jumped off the rooftop and managed to break through the second story window. As she picked herself back up from the landing, four guards entered the hallway from in front of her. From behind, two more guards came into the hallway.

She simply grinned as she cracked her knuckles. Yang bolted forward and swung downward hitting the first man through the floor. As she did that, she had to instantly turn around and uppercut the man behind her. After she punched him, a guard tried to jump over the hole in the floor, but Yang kicked him in the chest knocking the wind out of him then caused him to fall into the hole. The guard Yang uppercutted attempted to swing his sword at her, but Yang's armor deflected the blow.

Yang got back into her fighting stance and began to bounce on her feet. Then she began to punch the guard's chest repeatedly, the spikes on her knuckles stabbing him each time. She then heard a cracking sound as his sternum broke, then she punched one more time stabbing his own broken ribs into his lungs.

The other guards watched this in great surprise, but the one who was standing behind the guard who had just died was wearing armor. He ran toward Yang, but she was ready. Quickly, she slapped her hands together igniting them with magic. She then threw the fireball at him instantly consuming him in fire. As the fire was subsiding, she saw that the man's armor had melted onto his skin, but he was still alive. So Yang threw her second fireball at him and killed him.

As the man fell to the floor and the fire subsided, Yang prepared for an attack from behind, only to realize it was not coming. She turned around and saw the two guards dead on the ground with thin holes in their necks, which could explain why Yang didn't hear a cry of pain as they died.

Yang was confused as to what happened, but she heard the slightest sound of a footstep behind her. She quickly turned around and punched only to have her fist blocked by some kind of magical barrier. After she pulled her fist back, the barrier flickered then shattered to reveal a small girl carrying a parasol that was typically only owned by nobles. The girl was wearing a white bolero jacket with a full length back to the jacket and white leather thigh high boots. She appeared to be wearing a similar chainmail to the enchanted mail Ruby, Weiss, and Yang had, except the chainmail had holes revealing skin just above her hips on each side. Her hair was three different colors which seemed to match her outfit. She had a pretty simple breastplate that covered her chest but only stopped after her ribs. The most distinct feature Yang saw of this girl was that she had white and brown eyes, but every time she would blink, her eyes seemed to change, sometimes including pink.

"Are you working for them?" Yang asked her causing the girl to smirk and shake her head. "No. then can you help me find my sister." The girl then grinned and shook her head. "Why not?"

The girl was about to do something, but her ear twitched slightly and she looked towards the unbroken window. She then snapped her fingers causing a bright flash of light for a split second. When Yang could see again, the girl was gone. Instead of staying there and searching for the mysterious girl, Yang ran down the hallway. She opened a door at the end of the next hallway and entered a large room, but she had to stop because she instantly felt frozen, which was surprising since Yang's magic typically kept her warm.

* * *

"Damn magic," Roman cursed under his breath as she stood back up avoiding sliding on the ice. "You know, I've heard that the Schnees were cold hearted, but this is ridiculous."

Weiss didn't respond, as she now seemed completely calm with her eyes shut. Then she opened them revealing to him that her eyes were glowing blue now. She raised her right hand and aimed it at him. She shot a large icicle at Roman, which he barely had any time to block, but when he did, he slid across the floor away from Ruby.

Weiss raised her left hand causing the air around it to swirl and glow. Roman looked around the area to help him think of something. Right next to him was a small desk, so he used his cane to hook on it then propel him forward just in time to avoid Weiss shooting another ice spike at him with her right hand. As he slid across the floor, he took his chance and swung his cane at her head. Weiss didn't even blink as ice formed hovering in front of the cane blocking the strike.

He slid across the room and hooked a nearby support beam to dodge even more icicles as the spell in Weiss's left hand became even larger. Just as Roman began to get a rhythm going to avoid the ice spikes, Weiss smirked as she twisted her hand and flicked up causing the ice under where Roman was going to rise and throw him to the ground.

Roman tried to pick himself up only to have him keep sliding. Then he looked up at Weiss and saw her grin as the spell in her left hand was now giant. She then threw the spell at him causing a slow moving snow and ice orb to fly towards him. Just before the spell hit him, a girl appeared in front of Roman to block the spell with a barrier. After the spell dissipated, the girl looked at Roman with an unamused expression. Then she waved her umbrella and Roman disappeared. Weiss looked confused as she looked at the girl. The girl then smirked and gave Weiss a little wave before casually walking on the ice further into the warehouse.

Weiss stood there for a second before her eyes stopped glowing and she fell to her knees. She sat there emotionless as she stared at her hands, but then she blinked several times and looked around.

"Ruby!" she managed to say as she saw Ruby laying there on the other side of the room. "Ruby!" Weiss then started to slowly crawl on the ice towards Ruby. "Ruby, are you alright?"

Ruby didn't respond as Weiss crawled closer to her. Weiss made it to Ruby and saw that there was a pool of frozen blood by Ruby's head. Her mouth was stained with blood that was now frozen to her face. Weiss stared at her in horror as she saw Ruby wasn't breathing.

"No, no, nononono," Weiss sputtered as she pulled Ruby on top of her lap. She placed her hand over Ruby's head and focused with her eyes shut. "Come on, heal." She focused hard and opened one eye only to see that her hand wasn't producing the white healing glow. "Come on, heal!" she shouted at herself as she held Ruby's limp body. "Why won't this work!" she yelled again as she placed her hand on Ruby's face only to feel no warmth. "Why won't my magic work?" Weiss asked herself in a panic.

"Please Ruby, please not this," Weiss said as she hugged Ruby and started to sob. "Please Ruby, don't die."

* * *

 **For the recor- PUT DOWN THOSE PITCHFORKS! For the record, I regret nothing.**

 ***Yelps as dodges several burning pitchforks* HEY! Last chapter of suspense, I promise.**

 **In my defense, sleep deprived Van is a good writer, but he can be very mean to the characters. I had an idea for the Ruby/Roman/Weiss encounter, the girls get to the warehouse, and the guys on the slave ship. I thought up the second half around hour 4.**

 **So, the moral of the story is, don't let sleep deprived Van make up story plot points on the fly.**

 ***Yelps as dodges more pitchforks and now molotov cocktails***

 **Anyway, before someone inevitably brings this up in the reviews. Roman was not trying to kill Ruby, he's good at what he does. He may have gone a little too far, but in his defense, Ruby did break his nose.**

 **Another thing people may bring up with in the comments. Weiss's sudden power surge may be seen as a Weiss ex machina, but I have been setting this up for a while. Weiss being a mage, Weiss having power she didn't even know she had, and Qrow explaining how mages work.**

 **So, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter written mostly by sleep deprived Van. Now regular Van is going to have to fix this.**

 **I swear there are two completely different people.**

 **So, I hope you guys enjoyed your holidays, I know I enjoyed mine.**

 **Have a nice- *dodges another pitchfork* HEY! *straightens coat***

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	37. Healing and Emergency Smithing

**Hello everyone, this is the newest version of Van that I didn't know would actually take the time to write a chapter. Presenting sick Van. So yeah, for the past week I've been incredibly sick, so I wasn't writing as much as I normally do, ergo posting on Sunday instead of like 4 days ago. Also, I'm starting the spring semester tomorrow, yay, please don't let them take me.**

 **Anyway, we get to have the conclusion of the suspenseful story arc I started last year. I think I've wrapped it up kind of nicely. If not, blame sick Van. He did the writing. He may also say some weird stuff in the reviews.**

 **With that, on to reviews:**

 **CyberBUNNEH: One doesn't have to dodge when they have mad skillz.**

 **rob. york. 1690: I WILL GET AS CLOSE TO KILLING CHARACTERS AS I WANT TO! *hides in bunker where the Pyrrha board is* Anyway, here's the next chapter.**

 **FoxyFoxation: I've already fixed that. Weird visuals.**

 **Star-The-Writer: I honestly had no idea for the name of the chapter, so I figured to go along with the AN.**

 **boomnitro: Remind me to stand away from you when mad.**

 **BladeMura: *catches pitchfork* Already did, now there's a new problem, but I'm getting better.**

 **Pink Cat Glory: And that is when I know I made a good chapter.**

 **Lyall777: You're welcome. Thank you and fuck you too then.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Delirious writing is interesting for me. Now we see what sick storytelling does.**

 **Nemasis Demarini: I randomly went back and saw a couple of the sleep deprived Van chapters and you seem to be on to something. I'll have to have a talk with him when he regenerates in a little while. I burned him alive before I got sick.**

 **(Sassy) Guest: Yay, it worked. I was not going to have a Ruby ex Machina for that situation. I've used that way too much already, but I was building up to Weiss ex Machina. I also forgot that I passed 100k words. I should probably get to work on the plot. I honestly had no idea what the Worf effect was, so I had to go look it up. Yeah, I apparently did that without knowing.**

 **Rapter267: DnD does kind of play a part in this. Maybe once in a while I will make an acrobatics roll for some characters *cough* Jaune *cough*, I think you've said that in a different chapter. Maybe the carnival ones, or maybe the dungeon.**

 **rebekahtpe (chapter 4 review): Yay, another one who supports that theory. Episode 8 also goes along with the theory when Qrow was explaining his bad luck semblance. He basically said that his semblance is not good for raising a family, then he looked over to Ruby. I swear, they better either confirm or flat out deny this theory, or I will lead the flaming pitchfork charge.**

 **Rebekahtpe (chapter 9 review): That's how it starts. When someone finds an interesting fanfic, they will sit and read it for a long time. For me it was when I discovered the 'Professor Arc' story.**

 **Kid Nonexistent: I PLAY VIDEO GAMES, THEN DECIDE TO WRITE THE NIGHT BEFORE POSTING!**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Weiss sat there cradling Ruby's body for a long time, weeping into the younger girl's chainmail. She didn't know what to do. Her magic wasn't working, so she couldn't heal her. She managed to defeat Roman with a surge of magical power, but after the mysterious girl made Roman disappear, Weiss felt completely drained.

It was a short while after Weiss stopped sobbing, she heard a loud commotion outside. Upstairs, there was a loud crash and then the sound of the floor breaking. Then there was the sound of a door crashing open.

"Ruby!" Weiss heard Yang shout from the walkway. She turned her head and watched as Yang jumped then landed on the icy floor, her magic melting the ice with each step. "Weiss, what happened."

"W-we were kidnapped, then-then we were knocked out," Weiss sputtered out as she held Ruby. "When we woke up he-he tried to kill me. Then-then he started to beat Ruby, till, till-"

"Who? I'll kill him!" Yang roared as all the ice in a five meter radius melted.

"He's gone," Weiss said as she looked Yang in the eyes, tears streaming down her face. "It's Ruby, she's-"

The warehouse doors burst open after Nora hit it with her enchanted hammer. She was carrying a mage over her shoulder while Blake followed removing an arrow from her own. They looked around the room before they saw Weiss and Ruby. Nora dropped her hammer and the mage onto the ground before she and Blake ran over to the two. The girls watched as Shadow flew into the building before flying back out.

* * *

Qrow slashed his broadsword to the final lock opening the brig. Inside, the slaves barely turned to look at the sound, and the ones who did just stared off into the distance with blank looks. Jaune and Ren immediately went to work opening the shackles. From outside, the knight could hear the sounds of an approaching bird and the cawing of a crow.

Seconds later, shadow flew under the deck and landed on Qrow's forearm. It cawed several times and flapped its wings, as if it was frantically explaining something to the knight. Qrow looked down before turning to Ren and Jaune. "Ren, come with me. Jaune I need you to stay here on the ship to watch over these people."

"What's going on?" Ren asked him as he followed the knight to the stairs.

"I have no idea, I don't speak bird," Qrow told him as they both ran onto the deck before jumping onto the docks.

"Then how did you know you needed my help?" Ren asked them as they followed the bird around the corner nearing a series of warehouses.

"If there is a serious situation, I think you'd be a bit more help than the bard," Qrow told him as the slowed down and saw several dead bodies and destroyed objects. "Also, I'd trust the guy with the shield to be a guard instead of a twin daggered fighter. Come on, I see the others."

The two of them ran into the warehouse to see Weiss holding Ruby while Yang just stood there looking terrified. Blake was checking over Ruby while Nora was keeping an eye on a mage she had pinned against the wall with her hammer.

It took Yang a second before she snapped out of her daze. "Uncle Qrow! It's Ruby-"

Qrow didn't respond as he quickly ran over to Weiss and Ruby. He placed two fingers against Ruby's neck and held them there for a while. "She's not breathing, but she's not dead," Qrow told them and he looked over to Ren. "You, get over here and work with your magic."

"It's not magic, but I will do my best," Ren said as he ran over to Ruby. His hand started to glow for a second before placing it on her chest. "Chi isn't as effective as actual healing magic. So I can extend how much time we have by a little."

"It will have to be enough," Qrow said as he looked around the room seeing the ice everywhere. He then looked over to Weiss. "You had a magic surge, didn't you?"

"I don't know, when I saw him beat Ruby, my mind went blank and then this happened," Weiss managed to say. "When I made it over to Ruby I tried to heal her, but my magic wasn't working."

"I see, so your emotions took control of your magic making you use nearly all of your magic. Then after you were done you couldn't access the rest. Without a catalyst, you couldn't do anything else," Qrow said as he looked around. "Yang, Nora, where is Weiss's equipment?"

"We haven't been looking around, but it's probably still in the warehouse," Yang said.

"Search the building, find Weiss's rapier and her bag with the crystal," Qrow told them as they began to walk further into the warehouse. "Nora, if you find her crystal, do not touch it."

A couple minutes later, it was obvious now that Ren was struggling with his chi. Around that time Nora ran out of a nearby door carrying Weiss's rapier and crystal bag while Yang was carrying the rest of the equipment they found.

"What now, uncle Qrow?" Yang asked as Nora handed him her items.

"Well, as far as we know, Weiss is the only one who has healing magic," he said as he took the crystal out of the bag, "but she is almost tapped out of magic at the moment. Now the only way to use healing magic is for Weiss to access the little remaining magic she has, and that requires a catalyst."

"But, didn't you say that we needed a blacksmith who specializes in magic?" Blake asked him causing him to nod.

"Exactly, and this is an emergency, so we need to do some blacksmithing," he said then tossed Yang the crystal before tossing the rapier at her. "You are the only one here who is a blacksmith and can use magic. With Weiss being drained, this process should be relatively safe."

"What do you mean 'relatively safe?'" Yang asked him.

"A mage's crystal is a great source of their power, but it is one of their greatest weaknesses," Qrow explained as he walked over to the mage and ripped off his necklace. He then threw the necklace's crystal into the ground shattering it. Suddenly the mage was electrocuted by himself till the point he died, then Nora's hammer started to glow from being charged up. "If the crystal is destroyed, a mage can be killed. If someone was holding it when it broke, it would divide the magical damage between the two. Having Weiss being drained, even if her crystal broke, the magic has a very little chance of killing her. When putting the crystal into something, the less magical energy the crystal has, the easier it can be combined."

"So Yang has the best chance to combine them now," Nora said as Yang looked at the two items in her hands.

"But I don't know the first thing about this kind of smithing," Yang said as she gripped the items tight.

"I do," Qrow told her. "I saw this happen once in Shion, when I travelled with your father. I remember most of the steps, but those required the forge. What you will do, you will be doing with magic."

"Let's do this," Yang said placing Weiss's items on the table nearby. "What first?"

"You need to heat up the sword's handle till the metal is easily manipulated," Qrow told her has he picked up the crystal. She took the leather grip off of the handle and held the cool metal. "The metal your father made this from is extremely resistant to heat, so you need to focus. Normally you would heat the whole thing or cause it to light on fire, but you need focus."

"I'll try," Yang said as she closed her eyes and focused on the weapon in her hand. Her hands ignited in flames, but the handle started to glow orange from the heat. Qrow extended his scythe and tossed the crystal in the air, then he sliced the crystal in half vertically before catching the two halves. The metal in Yang's hands started to melt causing Yang to look over to Qrow.

"Ok, now this is a tricky part," he said placing the crystal halves in her right hand. "When you combine these, the crystals need to be perfectly across from each other, and you need to constantly be flowing magic into both the crystals and the handle. If you don't do this properly, it will shatter the crystal."

"Very reassuring," Yang muttered as she aligned the crystals on the handle. She focused her magic through her hands and into the crystals and handle. As she did this, Yang pressed the crystals into the handle. She reshaped the metal on the handle so the metal was close to the original shape. Then, from the crystal, the metal started to cool down and harden. After that the handle appeared back to normal aside from the halves of the crystals near the blade under the hand guard. "Is it done?"

"Yes, which is really surprising, since last time the blacksmith failed and blew up his shop," Qrow said to her causing Yang to nearly drop the sword. He turned to the others and saw Ren had stopped trying to heal Ruby and had nearly passed out. "Blake, I need you to help Weiss up to her feet. She needs to be able to cast this." As Blake helped her stand up, Qrow took the sword from Yang and handed it to Weiss. "Now, this will be really difficult especially since you're mostly drained already, you will need to focus really hard, but when you are casting your healing magic, you'll need to listen to what your body is saying. One wrong movement and you'll cast the wrong spell."

"A-alright," Weiss said as she stood on her own, wobbling a little bit. She held her sword with both hands and focused her magic into the weapon. She took a step forward with her right foot, but then an icicle shot from the tip of the weapon past Ren and Nora's heads impaling the wall. "Damn."

"You weren't listening to your body," Qrow said as Weiss stood back up shooting him a glare. "If you're getting mad at me, don't I'm trying to help you out. You probably have just one more chance to save Ruby before it's too late. If you don't listen to your body you will mess up again, then you will not have enough magic to heal Ruby and she will die. You don't want that to happen, so listen to yourself and save her."

"Alright," Weiss said to herself as she closed her eyes. She moved her legs closer together standing up straighter. Then she let go of the sword with her right hand. Holding the sword vertically in front of her, Weiss started to emit a white aura while the air around her started to swirl. The swirling air started to speed up as a circle of warm light appeared below her. Weiss then opened her eyes revealing that they were now glowing a light blue. She let out a yell as she flipped the blade around and stabbed the ground causing the wind to blast outward hitting everyone in the room. Weiss then fell to one knee before passing out.

* * *

Weiss woke up, her head throbbing from an immense headache. As she looked around, she saw that she was in a room somewhere. She looked at the door and saw Qrow standing there leaning against the door. With a smirk he got off the door and walked to a chair near Weiss's bedside.

"I see you've finally decided to join us," Qrow said as he sat down on the chair backwards resting his arm on the back of the chair. "You've been out for a couple of days. Magic depletion will do that to you."

"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be watching over Ruby?" Weiss asked him as she started to rubbing her right temple.

"Well, Yang's been watching over her, and so have some of the others," he explained to her. "Blake was in here a little while ago, but she decided to see if this town had a book shop since she has been reading the same book over and over for three months now, as she explained it."

"So, Ruby is-?"

"She's fine," Qrow said causing Weiss to breathe a sigh of relief. "You saved her. Your magic actually healed everyone in the area. Blake had some arrow wounds in her shoulders and they healed up just fine. Ruby, however, has been slipping in and out of consciousness for the last couple days. Considering the amount of wounds she received, it's surprising she's not in worse condition."

"Ok, well, since I'm better, I'll just- ahh!" Weiss groaned as she tried to get out of bed before Qrow pushed her back down.

"No, you won't," he said then stood back up. "When a mage depletes their entire magic preserves, they can either not have magic for a period of time before regenerating, or die. To be honest, if you didn't wake up today I was going to assume you weren't going to. So, since you woke up, you're not going to be able to use magic for roughly two weeks."

"So, I won't be able to fully heal Ruby," Weiss said as she laid back on the bed looking up at the ceiling.

"You've healed her enough to the point where she can heal herself, by the time you're able to cast magic again, she won't need healing. You just stay here and recover, I have something to do here in town," Qrow said then exited the room.

It wasn't very long till Jaune walked into the room to check up on Weiss. He appeared normal at first, but his hair was majorly disheveled, he had soot on some parts of his face, some of his hairs were singed, and he had some tears in his clothes. He walked over to the chair next to Weiss's bed and sat down instantly looking tired hanging his head back.

"What the hell happened to you?" Weiss asked causing him to raise his head and look at her.

"I could ask you the same thing," he said to her before leaning back.

"I had to heal Ruby and I can't cast magic for two weeks," Weiss told him.

"I inadvertently became a pirate for a couple days," Jaune said to the ceiling feeling Weiss's eyebrow raise asking for an explanation. "Apparently, nobody came back to me and tell me what happened, so I was stuck with the freed slaves. The drugs they were on wore off, and they apparently weren't happy. After I told them I helped set them free, they praised me as a hero, but they repaired the ship in less than an hour and started a three day rampage on the open seas destroying any save ships they recognized. Then they started to pillage regular ships and got a decent amount of weapons, food, and gold. I asked if they could take me back and they agreed. I came back this morning and ran into Blake. She told me to come back to the inn and check up on you and Ruby."

"Jeez, that's quite a bit," Weiss told him earning a confirmatory grunt from Jaune before he started to fall asleep. Weiss waited there for a while, but didn't feel tired at all. So after she heard Jaune's loud snoring, she sat up on the edge of her bed. "I guess even if I can't heal Ruby, I should probably go check up on her. Maybe she hasn't told anyone." As soon as she put weight on her legs, she could already tell how sore they were. Deciding to bear with the pain, she walked forward suddenly feeling a pain in her chest that seemed to feel like a bruise from Torchwick sword.

Stumbling her way out of the room, she immediately heard the sounds of the tavern below the rooms. Looking over the balcony, Weiss saw Ren and Nora sitting in the middle of a group of guys. Nora however was seated across from a muscular man, their arms interlocked in an arm wrestling competition, the man seemed to be having trouble pushing Nora's arm down. Nora simply smirked as she pushed the man's arm down on the table causing everyone to groan in frustration.

Walking to the next room, Weiss entered and saw Yang sitting on a chair next to Ruby with her arms folded across her chest, eyes closed, but trying to open themselves in a fight to stay awake. She didn't even notice as Weiss walked over to her, but when she tapped Yang on the shoulder she immediately woke up.

"What'cha- hey," Yang said nearly hitting Weiss from being woken up, but stopped when she saw who it was. "Nice to see you're awake. Ruby was a little while ago," she then yawned and looked out the window seeing the sun setting. "Or maybe it was a while longer."

"You should get some rest, my bed is open, you'd just have to deal with Jaune snoring in the chair next to the bed," Weiss suggested to the brawler.

"I'm fine, I need to stay by Ruby's side, just in case she wakes up," Yang said looking over to her sister who was sleeping peacefully before she herself felt her head fall before snapping it back up. "Maybe I am a bit tired."

"Come on, I'll stay with Ruby, go get some sleep," Weiss said pulling Yang off her chair slowly causing the brawler to begrudgingly agree and tiredly stumble out of the room. Weiss sat down on the chair and looked at Ruby's sleeping figure. She seemed perfectly healthy considering the condition she was in a couple days ago. Weiss leaned over and brushed Ruby's bangs out of her face before leaning back into her chair.

* * *

Back in the warehouse, Qrow walked down the hall dragging the tip of his broadsword on the ground towards a certain mage who was currently tied to a chair at the end of the hall. The mage immediately started to panic and began to try and cast his own magic only to see it failing.

"Courtesy of the princess," Qrow said lifting the tip of the broadsword to the mage's neck pointing at the fixed magical inhibitor. "Nice to see you wake up. So, did you enjoy your stay on the other side before her highness healed everyone?" The mage let out a muffled protest through the gag he had in his mouth before Qrow bolted forward placing the edge of the broadsword against his neck. "I have some questions, and if you answer just right, you may just live to the morning."

* * *

"Hey," a hoarse voice greeted Weiss immediately causing her to look at Ruby who was now sitting up on her bed smiling at Weiss. She coughed for a second and her normal voice returned. "Good morning."

"Ruby, it's dusk," Weiss corrected her causing Ruby to look out the window.

"So it is," she said then looked back to Weiss and raised an eyebrow. "So, you're a princess."

Weiss chuckled. "You know, I knew I was going to need to tell you sometime. Tied to a chair after being kidnapped was not my first choice," she sighed. "Yes, I am the princess of Atlas. My father, Jacques Schnee, is the king. Up until certain events, I lived in the castle there."

"It actually makes sense now," Ruby said confusing Weiss. "When we first met, you didn't know how to properly saddle a horse, how to farm, how to put on armor, didn't know the prices for some pretty common things, also you would do whatever you could not to reveal your last name or talk about your past."

"Well, to be fair, it was a good idea for me not to reveal who I am," Weiss told her. "I'm presumed dead back in Atlas, and to the White Fang, which I needed."

"To get revenge for your mother, you mean," Ruby said causing Weiss to nod. "So, who knows who you really are?"

"Not that many people, as far as I know," she said, "There's you, Blake, your dad, and Qrow."

"And Roman Torchwick," Ruby told her then immediately snapped back up. "Wait, Blake, dad, and Qrow?"

"Blake is a faunus, and they kind of have mixed feelings about my family. Your dad did a job for my father once, and your uncle just seems to know," Weiss explained to her. The following was uncomfortable silence as the two didn't know what to talk about. After they looked around the room for a little bit in the silence, Weiss looked at Ruby. "Does it still hurt?"

"A little," Ruby told her pressing a hand against her side. "My chainmail took a lot of the hits, but Roman did hit pretty hard."

"Why did you provoke him?" Weiss asked her. "Why did you hit his nose, or even ask him that question? He wouldn't have hit you then."

"I knew that," Ruby said causing Weiss to raise an eyebrow. "I saw you were fine from the slash, but if I did nothing, Roman would've seen you and probably killed you. I had to do something, so I drew his attention while you got up and broke the inhibitor. I needed to make sure you were safe."

"But why? Why would you put yourself so far in harm's way just so I could break the inhibitor? You nearly died, no, you would have died if Yang hadn't attached my crystal to my rapier. So why would you do that?"

"Because I care about you," Ruby nearly yelled at her. "We've been travelling together for a while, and you've been a great friend. Even tied to that chair, I just had to do anything I could to keep you safe. I don't want to lose you."

"Dunce," Weiss muttered to herself as she looked down. "Look, I care about you too, but please don't do anything like that ever again. I don't want to lose you either."

* * *

As Blake walked through the streets, she pulled her cloak tighter to herself due to the air becoming colder. Qrow explained it as due to Weiss's magical outburst, the local area became a lot cooler. Since it's already late fall, the magical outburst is quickening the season's progression.

She darted through the market district till she saw an interesting shop that appeared to have no customers. When the wind picked up, blowing open Blake's cloak, she decided to quickly go into the store. The inside was pretty impressive since there was nothing but books lining the walls. Behind the counter was an old man, that Blake swore she had seen somewhere before. He had a bald spot on the top of his head, long grey hair on the rest of his head, bushy grey eyebrows, and as far as Blake could tell, he hadn't opened his eyes.

Blake decided to look around the store for a while. Reaching a section labeled 'Grimm,' she decided to look at the shelves. The shelves were covered in a thick layer of dust, but there was an empty spot on the shelf where a book appeared to have been taken out very recently. She then decided to take a look at a section labeled 'Demons,' and yet again there was a lot of dust and a book missing. Deciding to look around again, she looked over to a section on magic to yet again find a lot of dust and a book missing. She turned around and immediately bumped into a man with silver hair wearing small shaded glasses along with a suit consisting mostly of green and black. Slung over one shoulder was a black bag with something in it. In one hand he was carrying three thick leather bound books and in the other he was leaning against a silver cane.

"Oh, terribly sorry," he said as he backed up. "Not many people actually take time to go into book shops. Though, the wind caused me to duck into this store."

"Ah, yes, same for me too," Blake said backing up slightly.

"And yet, just a few days ago it was a lot warmer, but that changed suddenly, like magic," he said tilting his head down and looking up over his glasses. Then he started to make his way over to the front counter. "Like some mage had a sudden outburst."

"Who are you?" Blake asked him as she reached to her short sword while he placed gold coins in front of the sleeping man.

"Not your enemy, Ms. Belladonna. My name is Ozpin, the commander of Fort Beacon. I actually met with one of your friends earlier this month," he said putting bookmarks into the three books before placing them in his black bag then closing it. Then he tossed the bag in front of Blake causing her to look at it for a second. He took that chance and reached into his pocket to pull out an emerald. Then he quickly pressed the emerald against Blake's forehead causing her to immediately fall into a daze. "When the wind picked up, you ducked into this store. After you saw that this store sold books, you decided to purchase some. Though, before you entered this shop you purchased the clothing located in this bag for the cold weather."

He removed the gem from her forehead causing her to remain completely still and in the daze. Ozpin calmly put the emerald back into his pocket before taking a couple steps back from Blake. Then he pulled a knife from his pocket and stabbed it into the air for a second before pulling it down causing a green line of light to appear. The line opened into an oval revealing a familiar desk located in his tower.

"I don't think Glynda would appreciate me borrowing this artifact, but I would rather not make the trip on horseback," Ozpin said as the door to the building opened blowing a blast of cold air into the shop causing him to shiver slightly. He stepped into the portal before snapping his fingers causing it to close. "I hope those girls know what they are doing. Winter is coming, and it will not be friendly this year."

He sat down on his chair long enough to make himself a cup of a Vacuoan brew. As soon as he raised his cup up to his lips, the doors to his office were thrown open using magic. "Ozpin!" a very angry blonde mage shouted as she entered the office. "Give me back the planal knife!"

"Nope," he simply said stabbing the knife into the air behind his chair before quickly dragging it down. The portal opened just in time for Ozpin's chair to fall backwards into it along with him in it. Before Glynda could pull him back through using magic, the portal closed.

* * *

 **And there we go, end of the suspense. At least I think. *checks over chapter* Should be. If not, sick Van is to blame.**

 **Anyway, Weiss is tapped out of magic, but she has a conduit. Yang can do magical smithing. Jaune became a pirate. Nora and Ren are scamming the locals. Ruby is healed. Some WhiteRose. Weiss brought a man back from the dead. Blake has some new books. And Ozpin is acting like a child.**

 **So, would the scene with Weiss and Ruby kind of classify as the beginning of WhiteRose? I think it could be, with the somewhat confession near the end.**

 **I'm getting better, so sick Van shouldn't be around for much longer. I do have classes start up this week so chapter updates may be slower. I will try to keep posting one a week, so I may be posting on the weekends.**

 **So, if anyone has been looking into the reviews, we have a new member to the group. Knowledgeseeker66. They have been doing an in-depth analysis of each chapter. As of now they're on chapter 11.**

 **Anyway, have a nice day, don't get sick,**

 **-J. Van A**


	38. Your Highness and a Legend

**(Hey guys, quick thing. I decided that I didn't like the ending, so I figured I would just change it. So I'm updating this chapter.)**

 **Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. So, we get some interesting backstory in this chapter.**

 **I don't have much else to talk about here. I'm kind of tired, but not sleep deprived tired, so that didn't affect my writing. I'm also kind of tired because I bought this old game Dragon's Dogma, and have been playing it a bit.**

 **Onto reviews**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Ozpin will periodically make an appearance to check up on the group. Pyrrha is going to come into the group at some time in the near future, probably. I need to figure that out. Sick Van is probably going to be useful for that, but since I don't get sick that often, Sick Van won't show up that often.**

 **Star-The-Writer: I'm trying to make the ships set sail faster. I'm actually talking with Knowledgeseeker66 about the romance and has given me plenty of ideas for future chapters.**

 **Rapter267: I wanted to make Ozpin incredibly serious, but then I figured I might as well take his playful side from the show and expand on that.**

 **Guest: I just wanted to do something random like with JNR getting that magical honey. Maybe in one of my chapters I'll actually write about one of their escapades.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

As Blake made her way back to the inn, she stopped immediately as she looked down an alleyway to see a woman wearing black and the familiar half mask of the White Fang staring at her. The woman smirked at Blake for a second before jerking her head upwards slightly beckoning for Blake to follow. She then turned around and jumped upward landing on the side of a building before jumping off again landing on a nearby building's roof. Blake tied both ends of her bag together as a makeshift sling over her shoulder before following the woman.

"What are you doing here?" Blake asked the White Fang member as she reached to her katana grasping the handle tightly. "Has the White Fang finally decided to hunt me down for leaving after the assassination of the queen?"

"No," she answered Blake surprising her. "After your… departure, Adam has been… harsh."

"That's not surprising, considering how he is," Blake told her as she took her hand off of her katana to get into a more relaxed pose. "So then, why are you here?"

"Other members have concluded that Adam's recent behavior was related to you leaving. So we have spoken with some of the higher ups, and they have agreed to offer you a position back in the White Fang, without consequences," she said surprising Blake. "Please consider our offer, if you decline, then we will be forced to hunt you down." She backed up to the edge of the building as she grabbed the edge of her mask. She then started to take off her mask while falling backwards off the building. Blake ran over to the edge of the building and looked down to see where the White Fang member went only to see a crowd of people moving down the street.

* * *

"Weiss, what are you doing?" Ruby asked as she watched the princess walk into her room carrying a tray with food, nearly stumbling as she entered the room.

"You need to eat something," Weiss told her as she set down the food next to Ruby on the bed. "I can only assume you've been asleep as long as I have, so I think you haven't had anything to eat in days."

"I'm fine," she replied only to have her stomach betray her and growl. She then looked over to the side hiding her embarrassment while she reached over to the plate and pulled off one of the the bread buns and ate off some pieces. After a little while of her eating Ruby started to giggle.

"What?" Weiss asked her.

"Oh nothing," Ruby said as she looked up to Weiss with a smile on her face. "I just think it's kind of funny that the princess of Atlas is my own personal caretaker."

"Hey, don't say that so loud, Yang might hear that and she'll forcibly take that job," Weiss said poking Ruby's forehead. "Also, keep the whole 'me being a princess' thing a secret from the others."

"Why would you want that?" Ruby asked her as she grabbed the plate and began eating the cooked venison causing her speaking to become muffled. "If everyone knew, then we wouldn't need to keep this a secret, then we could work around anyone who might attack, like the White Fang."

Weiss sat and thought for a while as Ruby sat there chewing on the venison. She was about to answer Ruby, but then from the tavern downstairs she heard the sounds of the group of men in Nora's arm wrestling contest collectively groan as one of them lost. "It probably won't be a good idea to tell the others while we're in town. Some members of our group may not be able to keep this quiet," she said as she heard a man from the tavern deliver a battle cry then immediately lose the arm wrestling contest causing the others to groan. "Anyway, you need to get better, I can't have my adventuring partner be in less than stellar condition."

"As you command… your highness," Ruby said giving Weiss a snarky grin and a little bow.

"Oh great, I'm going to regret this, aren't I?" Weiss asked herself in annoyance. She then smirked as she quickly reached over and stole Ruby's second bread bun. Ruby then looked at Weiss who took a bite off the bun. "Should I consider this a royal tax?"

"Fine, I won't do that anymore," Ruby said grabbing her plate and holding it closer to herself, but ever so slightly more away from Weiss. She gave her a devious smirk then a quick bow. "Your highness." She then let out a small yelp as Weiss reached over to snatch something from her plate only to have Ruby pull it away from her. That then caused Weiss to try to reach further only to have her trip and fall onto the bed over Ruby's legs.

There were very loud footsteps as Yang bolted from the other room and threw open the door. "Ruby, what happen-!?" Yang asked as she ran into the room only to stop as she saw Weiss strewn over Ruby's bed while Ruby herself was holding her plate of food above her head with both hands looking at Weiss. The two girls then slowly turned their heads to look at Yang. "Ok, alright, I'm just going to go," Yang told them as she backed out of the room slowly closing the door behind her.

Ruby and Weiss then turned to look at each other for a second before they each burst out laughing causing Ruby to lower her plate. Weiss took her chance and sneakily stole a chunk of venison and began rolling off of the bed. Ruby then saw that Weiss stole the venison. She lunged forward bending her knees so she could lunge further towards the princess only to have her slip and fall forward landing on top of Weiss, but she managed to stop her roll.

"Ok, that had to be somethi-" Yang said as she burst into the room to see the scene of Ruby now strewn over Weiss. The girls looked back up at Yang in an uncomfortable silence, but while the silence hung over the room Weiss slowly raised the piece of venison to her mouth and ate it. "Ok then, I'm going to go now," Yang said as she left the room closing the door behind her.

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Qrow said sitting across the now bruised and bloodied mage. "The slavers you used to work for, worked for a man named Roman Torchwick. When you procured a person with distinctive features, you would alert him and he would come here and look at them."

"Y-yes," the mage said then spat out some blood. "I was only hired on after a person broke free and killed the other guards before Roman killed her himself. Other than that, I don't know anything. We were hired muscle, we didn't need to know anything else. Now let me go."

"You know, I only ever said that you may live till morning," Qrow said as he quickly thrust his sword into the mage's abdomen. "You, unfortunately, decided to work for slavers. As a knight, I just can't let you go." Pulling the sword out, Qrow flicked it to the side throwing all of the blood off before sheathing it on his belt. He then watched as the mage slowly lowered his head before not moving anymore. "Now then, I should probably go check up on Ruby."

* * *

"Nora, you didn't need to break that last guy's arm," Ren said as they both walked down the street away from the inn.

"But Ren, I wanted to see how strong I am," Nora said flexing her arm. "Also that guy was asking for it."

"Nora, your strength probably has been affected by the magical hammer," Ren said to her as he inspected the still glowing hammer strapped to her back. "And if I were to guess, I'd say when the runes on this hammer are glowing, your strength also increases. In the story you explained to everyone, you hit a shield with your hammer causing everything in the impact to be blown backwards tearing through the man's shield and arm, then eventually the rest of his body."

"It was awesome, Blake and I fought those guards and easily won," Nora exclaimed raising a fist in the air. "Though, Blake did get hit a couple of times, including having some arrows stabbed into her shoulders." She lowered her fist and then looked up at Ren. "So, where do you think Jaune went? He was gone for several days, but then when he showed up today he was dead tired and covered in dirt."

"I'm going to assume it had something to do with the ship we left him on," Ren told her as they walked past a group of mercenaries who looked at Nora's hammer pretty hard. "Well, that may be a problem," Ren muttered to himself.

"Maybe he became a pirate!" Nora exclaimed, Ren could see the sparkles in her eyes as she said that. "Maybe after he freed the slaves, he took over the ship and let them join his crew."

"Nora, that's a little farfetched," Ren said as he and Nora turned down an alleyway. Shortly after, the group of mercenaries followed them into the alley. Ren moved his hand to stop Nora causing her to be confused. "It does seem like a nice hammer, doesn't it?" he asked the mercenaries confusing Nora.

"Ren, what are you talking about?" Nora asked him as she looked around and saw the mercenaries. "Oh."

"I can see why they would be interested in the hammer. That's not a natural glow, it is an enchanted hammer. Nora, will you please place the hammer on the ground?" Ren asked her causing Nora to smirk, she simply reached behind her back and pulled off the hammer before placing it down in the middle of the street. "I would appreciate it if we don't have to fight. So how about this, if you can pick up the hammer, it's yours."

"Fine then," one of the mercenaries smirked as he walked over to the hammer. It didn't matter what he said, once he grabbed the hammer, the group was still going to go after them. He approached the hammer and placed a hand on the shaft. Then he gripped it and tried to move the hammer. As soon as a little pressure was placed on it, a thunder clap was heard. Suddenly a lightning bolt originating from the hammer shot out hitting the mercenary before going up into the sky.

The other mercenaries, as well as Ren and Nora, were shocked by what happened. Ren thought the mercenaries would get frustrated with the hammer then leave, not that as soon as they tried to move it they'd be electrocuted. With the hammer being how it is, many people have tried to move it and this didn't happen, even when Yang tried to move it for several hours causing her to get a muscle cramp. Ren then noticed as the lightning faded, so did the glowing runes.

"So that's it," Ren muttered to himself as he placed his hand under his chin. As the body of the first mercenary fell to the ground the rest of the mercenaries ran off in terror of the magic hammer. "Well, I think it's safe to touch the hammer now."

"Are you sure?" Nora asked him stretching her hand out to grab the hammer.

"Nora, the hammer seems to have lost power after that, which is why the runes aren't glowing. Also, I don't think that the hammer would hit you with a lightning bolt, after all, the runes have been glowing for days when you've had it, and it hasn't done anything to you," Ren told her causing Nora to see the reasoning behind what he was saying. She then grabbed the hammer's shaft before picking it up and holding it above her head. "See?"

* * *

Ruby sat there on the bed as she finished her food, giving Weiss a glare every once in awhile. Weiss was simply seated on her chair next to the bed smiling. Ruby then placed her plate on a nightstand still slightly glaring at Weiss. Suddenly the doors opened causing both girls to look at the door only to see Qrow walk into the room.

"Hey kid, I see you're awake, how you feeling?" Qrow asked Ruby as he leaned against the wall.

"I'm a lot better," Ruby told him then looked at Weiss. "She's been kind of my official caretaker."

"Don't say that too loud or Yang might hear you," Qrow said as he pulled a flask from his belt and drank some of its contents. At that remark Weiss looked at Ruby and raised an eyebrow with a little smirk as if to say, 'told you so.' "Anyway, it's good to see you're recovering. The guy I was questioning didn't really give me any information I was searching for, so I'm sorry I haven't been here to watch over you."

"It's fine," Ruby told him as she thought for a second. "Uncle Qrow, can I ask you something?"

"Sure kid," he said sitting down on the open chair next to the bed across from Weiss.

"When we were kidnapped, Weiss tried to bargain for my freedom by revealing she was a princess and that guy, Torchwick," Ruby said flinching slightly as she said his name, "he laughed at her saying that I was more valuable to sell then her. Do you have any idea what he meant?"

"Well," he said coughing a little bit, "the thing with the slave trade is that some buyers prefer people with certain traits, and will be willing to pay more for them than other-"

"You're lying," Weiss interrupted him. "You know more than you're telling us. He told me that a couple years ago he would've taken my offer, but instead of taking me to my father he was prepared to kill me and leave my body behind with the White Fang to deliver Ruby."

"Well-" he stuttered.

"Who is Cinder?" Ruby asked him causing the knight to drop his flask before hanging his head down and chuckling for a second.

"I guess there's no more point in hiding it anymore. If she's involved, it's probably better if you know," Qrow said picking up his flask before attaching it to his belt. He sighed then looked Ruby in the eyes. "What he said was not wrong. Sure princess here is worth a considerable amount coin wise, you are worth so much power wise. Silver eyes are not a common trait, as I'm sure you've already found out. During all of my travels, I've only ever met one other person with silver eyes, and that was your mother."

He rested his elbows on his knees leaning slightly closer to Ruby. "My old team was travelling Mistral under orders at that time, when we were attacked by demons. As it turned out, those demons were summoned by an old witch that was after your mother. The demons captured her and brought her to the witch's hut. Tai, Raven and I rescued her killing that old bat and when we searched the hut, we discovered an ancient grimoire from the times before the kingdoms. In that grimoire it told of a legend of the silver eyes and the great power they held. According to the grimoire, if a powerful witch were to consume silver eyes, their magic would become so powerful, not even an army could take them down."

At that point, Weiss visualized someone eating an eye which caused her to dry heave for a second. "So, my eyes have magic? I thought I couldn't do magic," Ruby said as she looked back at Weiss who was now composing herself.

"You can't, your eyes have power that can't be used by you, at least as far as I know. If a non-powerful witch were to try to consume an eye, they would die painfully as their magic ripped them apart from the inside, but like I've said, this is ancient magic. The grimoire could be wrong, but we reasoned that may be why there are so little silver eyed people around. When we brought this grimoire to the court wizard of Vale, she took it immediately to lock in a vault somewhere saying that it was dangerous. When we searched for any more information on this we couldn't find it, the court wizard explained that this kind of magic had been lost over time, so that was why we had never heard of this. If a powerful witch has found information on the legend of the silver eyes, then anyone with silver eyes is not safe." He leaned back into his chair. "You are not safe, neither of you."

"Both of us?" Weiss asked him.

"Yes, both of you," he said looking at them. "You said that Torchwick was going to drop your body off with the White Fang to deliver Ruby to her. Torchwick escaped, and I don't think he would be one to keep his mouth shut about things, especially when he might think there is a reward involved. It's already been a little less than a week, so he's had ample time to inform the White Fang and her that both a silver eyed one is travelling with the princess of Atlas. You both are probably going to be hunted. It would be in your best interest to get out of this town as soon as you can, but you should be fine here until you've all recovered."

"So, my eyes," Ruby said, her voice barely audible looking down at her bed. "My eyes are going to be hunted for. I'm going to put everyone in danger, just by being around them."

"I'm sorry kid," Qrow said moving from his chair to sit on the side of her bed and wrap an arm around her shoulders. "Summer never wanted you to know this about yourself. She just wanted you to live a normal life, but if you are going to be in danger because of it, you needed to know."

"Uncle Qrow, what am I going to do?" Ruby asked him.

"First, you need to get better. Then you need to move forward," Qrow told her standing up. "Just keep moving forward, that's all you need to do, but don't forget to rely on those you travel with. After all, you two are going to be travelling together for a long time." He made his way to the door. "I am sorry, but I won't be able to accompany you kids anymore. I came to this town in order to chase a lead that either isn't here or left as soon as they heard I was searching. I have an important contact back in Vale who may have new information, also he would probably need to know about Roman and Cinder." He looked at the two. "Weiss, I promise I will find the person who is responsible for the death of your mother, but I need you to promise me that you'll keep Ruby safe."

"Thank you Qrow, and I promise, I will protect Ruby," Weiss said standing up placing her fist on her chest similar to when someone takes an oath.

"Thank you, princess," Qrow said giving her a bow as he started to leave the room.

"Wait," Ruby said stumbling a little bit as she got out her bed, "aren't you going to tell me to watch over Weiss or something?"

"Ruby," Qrow said with a little smirk as he exited the room to the hallway, "you and I both know that you won't need to make a promise to keep your friend safe." At that, he left the room leaving the two girls alone in the room.

* * *

 **(After I finished writing the first time, I hated how I ended the chapter, so before I get back to writing the next chapter, I wanted to fix this ending.)**

 **Anyway, I decided to more with the silver eyes instead of just having them freeze grimm and be related to ancient warriors like the show did. I think my legend of the silver eyes works. I've talked about it with Knowledgeseeker66 and they agree with me on that. The silver eyes can increase the power of the witch that consumes it, but can only be properly consumed by powerful witches otherwise they die. It makes sense for why there would be little silver eyed people because they were hunted down for their eyes, and now with Cinder, a powerful mage, knowing that Ruby is a silver eyed person, puts Ruby in a lot of danger. It also goes along with how Ruby is more valuable than Weiss because what good is that coin if you're going to burn.**

 **So I'm kind of considering doing two or three more major arcs. Like, introduce Pyrrha, fight the White Fang, then fight Adam. There will be more stuff after that, but those would be the major arcs before like a time skip or the beginning of their next adventure. I kind of am already planning for the ending.**

 **I am torn between doing a thing with an army of grimm or demons. Maybe I'll set up a poll on my profile page.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed the scene with Ruby and Weiss in the bedroom with the food. I wanted to do something like that as just some fluff.**

 **What will Blake do?**

 **I am very tired.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	39. Street Fight

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. I do want to take this time to tell you guys I went back into the previous chapter and updated the ending in order to make it flow better than Qrow explaining that the girls are going to be hunted then leaves.**

 **Anyway, this chapter is coming out a little later than usual, and that is because I went back to my parents house this weekend and there is basically no internet there, so I couldn't access my Drive account to write the chapter or even log onto FanFictionnet.**

 **So, this chapter isn't terribly long, but it does focus mainly on two people who haven't been the focus on many chapters as of late. THAT'S RIGHT, Ozpin and Glynda! Not really, but I am thinking of something in the future with them. We also get to see someone enter the story at the end.**

 **Reviews:**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: There will be an interesting encounter on the road.**

 **telgenoff: I king of already have an idea for how Pyrrha will enter the story. I actually don't often bring up ideas to the table. The other people playing normally do, but when I do I get creative, like casting true strike in order to throw a longsword at a dragon's face because my guy is not a ranged character and my DM just _LOVES_ to either put in ranged characters or mages.**

 **Guest (chapter 19): You are going to read this in a while, but Ren and Nora are introduced before Pyrrha.**

 **Guest (chapter 26): The reason I decided to put in the Thor reference was because in the show Nora is based off of Thor.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Shortly after Qrow left the tavern, Blake came back to see a number of burly men nursing their arms, along with one having his arm in their sling. She then went to the stairs and entered the inn portion of the building seeing Nora and Ren playing a card game at a table on the balcony overlooking the tavern. Ren gave her a small wave, but Nora was too focused on the game to notice Blake was there.

She entered her room and placed the bag onto her bed. Opening the bag she grabbed the three books and placed them in their own pile. She then reached further into the bag to pull out the clothing. Her own clothing was becoming tattered from the various fights she's been going through since joining the group.

The clothing consisted of pretty simple clothing. The base of the outfit was a black long sleeved tunic along with black pants. She had a leather corset that had a belt going across her chest attaching to a small metal shoulder pauldron and a belt for her waist that had a special attachment for both her katana and short sword. There was also two leather pouches that had two smaller belts on it so it could attach to her thigh. Also in the bundle of clothing was a new hooded black cloak along with a face mask Blake could pull up over her nose.

"Why did I buy an outfit with so many belts?" Blake asked herself as she started to change into the new outfit. After she changed her pants and took off her shirt, she noticed as the sound of movement came from the opposite side of the bed and a hand suddenly grabbed onto the bed. She quickly grabbed her short sword and drew it aiming the blade at the hand. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

She watched as the hand slowly picked up the person attached to it causing her to see the tired face and long tangled hair of Yang who stood up rubbing the back of her head looking at the floor. "So that's why my neck hurts," Yang said then looked to Blake. "Blake? What is going on here, and why are you half naked?"

"That is besides the point," Blake sputtered out as she quickly pulled her new shirt over her head. "What are you doing in here?"

"My room was too far away," Yang said then yawned as she pushed some hair out of her face.

"It's literally two doors down," Blake told her as she started putting the books and the rest of her clothing into the bag.

"So, where did you go?" Yang asked rubbing her eyes.

"I went to the town to search for clothes since it's getting colder, and I ended up going into a bookstore buying some informative books," Blake explained leaving out the part where she met up with a White Fang member.

"So, what are you not telling me," Yang said sitting down on a nearby chair to look at Blake. Before Blake had a chance to ask what Yang meant, she continued. "Your left cat ear twitches when you're hiding something."

"My ear does _not_ do that," Blake said as she grabbed the cloak from her bag before pulling it on. "Anyway, while we're in town, we might as well refill on supplies. Can you think of anything we need?"

"Not really, but I could come with come with," she replied standing up and yawning.

"Shouldn't you be staying here to watch your sister?" Blake asked her as Yang stopped yawning then stood up and started to comb her hair with her fingers.

"No, she's doing a lot better," Yang said throwing her hair forward for a second before suddenly throwing it back causing her hair to look back to normal. "Also, she and Weiss have been spending a lot of time together, so she has someone watching over her."

"Well…" Blake said wondering if the White Fang member would try to contact her today. Deciding that she wouldn't since it had only been a few hours, Blake looked back to Yang who was now dressing into regular looking clothing. "I guess you can come with."

"Alright," she said raising both hands into the air in order to stretch. "So, I guess we should go."

* * *

"And that should be the rest of the supplies we need," Blake said as Yang placed the replacement tent for Ren into a bag. "So, all we need to do is-" She suddenly stopped as she caught the sight of the White Fang member's mask staring at her through the crowd motionless.

"What are you looking at?" Yang asked as she looked in the direction Blake was, but before Yang could see the figure, they ducked back into the crowd. "You look like you've seen someone you knew."

"I guess you could call it that," Blake muttered before she looked back in the direction they came from. "We should probably head back to the inn."

"I mean, I guess we could," Yang said throwing the bag of supplies onto her back. "Staying in that building all the time is pretty boring."

As if some malevolent force heard Yang's words, while they were heading back, Yang saw a large group of people standing in a large circle. When the two approached, she noticed that in the middle of the circle were two fighters, one wielding a sword and shield, and the other using only his fists. The sword fighter swung the blade at the man only to have him quickly counter by grabbing his wrist, after that he punched the sword fighter's elbow from the back breaking it in front of everyone. The sword fighter shouted in pain as he tried to whip around and the brawler with his shield only to have him catch it. The brawler quickly pulled the shield off the other man's arm before spinning around with great speed in order to bash the edge of the shield into the fighter's head cracking his skull and throwing him off to the side of the circle.

The crowd immediately cheered then Blake and Yang watched as several people in the circle began exchanging gold. They watched as a smaller man walked out into the circle and raised the brawler's arm. "What a fight!" the smaller man shouted causing everyone to cheer. "Can no one defeat Vidar the Warrior!?"

"No," Blake said looking over to Yang who already was taking the bag off her back. "Yang, no."

"C'mon, Blake?" Yang pleaded as she held the bag in front of her for Blake to take it. "I need to do something. Staying in the inn is driving me crazy. I need to blow off some stress."

Blake sighed as she took the bag. "Fine, but don't get hurt. We already have two members of our party recovering, so we don't need another one getting hurt."

"Can anyone defeat Vidar!?" the small man shouted, but nobody moved forward. At least, until Yang walked out of the crowd. "Is this a new challenger?"

"No," Yang said with a smirk, "I am the new winner."

"Cocky, I like it," the large man said slamming his fist into his palm. "Though, I don't think such a little girl can defeat me."

"Care to wager to that?" Yang asked him slamming both her fists together. "Fifty gold says I win."

"Fifty?" he asked looking over to the smaller man who simply nodded before turning back to Yang. "Sounds good."

"So, what are the rules to the fight?" Yang asked walking into the circle.

The smaller man walked away from the large man going into the center of the circle. "For those just joining us. This is simply a trial of skill," he said stretching out his arms. "Any weapons and armor are allowed in this battle. You may fight your opponent until either one of you dies or submits. We have only one rule, magic is prohibited as this is a warrior challenge."

"Ok, so it's just a regular fight," Yang said with a smirk cocking an eyebrow while cracking her knuckles immediately sending a look over the group causing some to be intimidated except for Vidar. "Sounds pretty simple."

"The fight begins on my mark," the small man said raising one hand into the air as both Yang and Vidar got into their fighting stances. Vidar stood sideways to Yang with one arm in front of him bent aiming his fist at the crowd with the other fist close to his abdomen. Yang raised her hands in front of her while she began bouncing on her feet left to right. The small man moved his hand down in a swift action. "Begin!"

Vidar immediately bolted forward at Yang, before she could retaliate with a punch, Vidar twisted his front arm swatting both her arms away then punching forward hitting her in the ribs and throwing her backwards. As Yang was being thrown back, she raised one hand above her head in order to plant it on the ground to flip herself back to her feet before she landed. Then she winced in pain from his punch. To her, it felt like a much harder hit than she should've received since she was wearing the cloth chainmail under her jacket which should've absorbed some impact.

As this happened, Vidar bolted forward again. Yang prepared for him disrupting her arms by immediately bolting to the right. As she was out of range from his fists, she delivered a retaliative punch to his ribs. He then elbowed Yang in the shoulder nearly causing her to fall to the ground again if she hadn't moved her right hand to the ground. She used her left foot to kick off his ankle causing her to spin on the pivot of her hand.

After she stopped spinning Vidar turned around to face her. This allowed Yang to immediately jump off the ground to deliver a punch to Vidar's gut, which to Yang felt like punching solid stone. That punch caused Vidar to stumble slightly allowing Yang to get back into her original fighting stance. She then started to deliver a series of punches in quick succession to his abdomen, still feeling like she was punching stone. She punched upward catching him in the jaws before punching him in the gut again before spinning around to elbow his ribs again.

Vidar took his moment to deliver a powerful punch to Yang's back throwing her straight into the ground. He then swung his leg kicking Yang in the ribs throwing her into the air. Then as she was falling back to the ground, he delivered an uppercut to Yang's abdomen throwing her back into the air. Yang nearly yelled out in pain, but as she reached the apex of her being thrown, Yang cocked back her left arm and pivoted her body as she fell back down.

Before Vidar could punch her again, Yang punched downward delivering an immense blow to his head causing Yang to wince lightly from the stone feeling of Vidar's head, yet his head barely moved. Yet, as she fell down, Yang planted both of her feet on his chest using him as a platform before jumping backwards to land on the ground.

Cocking back her right arm, Yang bolted forward punching him in his exposed abdomen. At first it felt like she had punched stone again, but suddenly her fist jerked forward with the force from her punch causing him to immediately lose his breath. She then decided to keep punching delivering several blows to his chest, no longer feeling like she had been punching stone. After punching his chest and abdomen several times, Yang went for an uppercut connecting to his jaw throwing him off of his feet backwards to his back knocking him out.

This caused everyone in the circle to be stunned by this action. Moments later everyone began to cheer loudly, then everyone started to exchange gold. Yang took her chance and walked over to the small man. Crossing her arms and giving him a glare was enough for him to reach his pouch and pay Yang her gold she won from the wager.

"So, did you work out all your stress?" Blake asked Yang as she walked up to the faunus.

"Kinda," Yang said cracking her back. "It was weird fighting without my gauntlets. Normally people's skin doesn't feel like stone when I'm punching it, so his kind of hurt during the fight, but that doesn't matter, I have fifty gold."

From behind Yang, Blake noticed as the smaller man helped Vidar back up all while glaring daggers at Yang. "How much money do you even have?" Blake asked her as they both began making their way back to the inn. "You guys told me you had some gold from your father, then we all got a reasonably large bag of gold from the lord in Redbarrow, and now you have a bag of fifty gold."

"Blake, we don't question these things," Yang said putting the bag of gold on her belt. "We'll figure out how much gold we have when we actually need to know."

"That's just begging for divine intervention," Blake mumbled as they approached the inn's door.

"So, we have a little less than a week before Ruby is healed enough for us to leave town. What should we do?" Yang asked her as they entered the building.

"Well, Ren and Nora obtained a deck of cards from somewhere, maybe we could play some games," Blake suggested as they entered the building.

* * *

In the town of Redbarrow, a horse trotted into the town. On the horse was a single person wearing a hooded cape. From under the cape, people looking at the rider could see a spear strapped to the person's back and the edges of a circular shield over the spear's shaft.

Riding to the nearest stables, the person dismounted their horse to leave there. They then walked through the town and walked into the local inn. After they entered, they made their way to the innkeeper.

"Hello, welcome to the Redbarrow Rest," the innkeeper greeted the person standing before them. "Will you be staying for food or the night?"

The figure raised their hands up to their hood and pulled it down to reveal long red hair kept in a ponytail and a bronze circlet. "I'll be staying the night, thank you," the woman said reaching to her belt and pulled out a small stack of coins before handing them to the innkeeper, but before the innkeeper took them they fell from their hands landing on the ground. "Sorry, sorry," the woman said as she quickly bent down to collect her coins. After she collected her coins, she handed the coins back to the innkeeper. "Also, I was hoping you could help me. I've been looking for someone, and I think they might've passed through here."

* * *

 **Ok, so yeah, Yang made some money and an enemy for life. I decided to just make a random chapter to do something with Yang while showing what Blake's new outfit is. If anyone wants to see the picture I based it on, go to google, type in steampunk female assassin, and it should be the third picture there.**

 **Also, Pyrrha gets introduced, and she's looking for dat booty, Jaune's booty, but not really. She is searching for someone under the orders of higher ups back in Mistral. As much as I'd like to do a separate chapter explaining where Pyrrha had been all this time, it would go as follows: Pyrrha's training, does some sparring with someone, beats them, her captain comes up and tells her the higher ups have a mission for her, she talks to the higher ups and they tell her she needs to go to Vale to search for someone, Pyrrha goes to Vale and begins her search. While I could easily expand on that and make a chapter, I'm more interested in bringing Pyrrha to the group and expanding the plot.**

 **Anyway, it's kind of late where I am so I'm going to go to sleep soon.**

 **So, have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van a**


	40. Pyrrha Nikos and Card Games

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. So anyway, we get to see Pyrrha in action, along with a little humor with the group.**

 **I've been tired for these past few days, but unfortunately I wasn't writing during those times, so sleep deprived Van didn't get to do much writing.**

 **Reviews:**

 **Rapter267: Flashbacks it is!**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Well, I can't say much about all of this, but Vidar may come back soon. Bumblebee interaction is always fun. You're not the only one lacking in caffeine.**

 **Neph Champion: I do enjoy putting in the interactions between the two teams, like in this chapter there is a pretty interesting card game. Pyrrha may join the group in the next few chapters. I haven't introduced Cinder in yet, but I already have some ideas. Also, Bumblebee is the name of Yang's motorcycle in the show, so that's why her horse is also named Bumblebee.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Pyrrha walked through the forest, xiphos in hand, as she neared the castle ruins near Redbarrow. Rumors around the town were that the dungeon under the ruins had been cleared of demons, but when the local lord sent men to investigate this, they had been attacked by draugr that had begun to leave the dungeon. While they could not go down into said dungeon, the lord's men had concluded that the demons had been defeated, otherwise the draugr would've stayed in the dungeon. For that reason, when Pyrrha revealed who she was to the lord when searching for information, he asked her to clear out the undead.

Pyrrha entered through the gate and immediately saw a group of twenty draugr lumbering around the courtyard. She quickly sheathed her sword before pulling the spear off her back. She then aimed the spear at a large draugr before throwing it. The spear flew through the air before impaling through the head of the undead before throwing it to the wall.

Pulling her shield off of her back, she drew her sword before bolting forward to engage the undead.

* * *

" _Nikos, a word," a stern voice commanded the redhead causing her to stop in the middle of her spar with another combatant who simply bowed to Pyrrha and the owner of the stern voice before leaving._

" _Yes general," Pyrrha said giving the general a small bow._

" _The Commander has an important task for you, report to the main tower for your mission," the general told her before he began to walk away to observe the other sparring rings._

" _Yes general," Pyrrha told him as she turned away from the sparring rings and began making her way towards the main tower._

 _Passing through the gates to the main building, she looked around at the interior design admiring the stone pillars with torch sconces. Walking to the back of the large room past the single large chair near the staircases, she began to make her ascent. After making her way to the second floor, she took an immediate right down a small corridor to a spiral staircase. She then climbed the stairs for a couple minutes, passing each floor and giving small waves to the magus students studying. She finally reached the top floor and entered the large corridor, then walked over to the large mahogany door._

 _As she opened the door, Pyrrha saw the Commander who was facing a large window overlooking the area. "Come in, Ms. Nikos, have a seat," he said as she walked into the autumn colored room. Approaching the mahogany desk, Pyrrha noticed a nice Vacuoan tea set. When she sat down across from the Commander, he began, "Pyrrha Nikos, the invincible girl, youngest person to ever receive knighthood in the kingdom of Mistral."_

" _Yes Commander?" Pyrrha asked him as she watched the man turn his head slightly in order to place his hand on the desk and slide some papers over to her. She picked up the papers and saw that one was a written report and the other a sketch of a girl with long hair tied up in an off-center ponytail. "Who is-"_

" _That is the Princess of Atlas," he interrupted her as he looked back out the window. "A month and a half ago the Queen of Atlas was assassinated by the White Fang, the younger sister Weiss was presumed dead from the attack. A few weeks ago one of our spies in Vale spotted the princess travelling south in the direction of the capital city, he only just returned with this information." Pyrrha was about to ask a question only to have the Commander interrupt her again. "You are probably wondering why this concerns you, and it is pretty simple. We need you to locate the wayward princess and safely deliver her to the King at Fort Mantle. This will help strengthen our connections with Atlas. Do you have any questions?"_

 _Pyrrha thought for a couple seconds before looking at the man. "Where do I begin my search?"_

 _He chuckled. "The general was right about you." He leaned back into his chair resting his arms on the chair's armrests. "You will take a ship across the ocean. Then you'll make your way to the capital city and begin your search."_

" _Understood," Pyrrha said as she stood up and began leaving the room._

" _Best of luck to you," the Commander said as the doors closed behind her._

* * *

Blocking an axe with her shield, Pyrrha quickly swung her sword catching the draugr by the neck decapitating it. She then threw her shield ahead of her bashing into the head of a draugr before bouncing off hitting another undead next before flying back to the warrior who simply caught the shield in time to deflect another attack. She stabbed the draugr's head before pulling the weapon out of its head just in time to decapitate the last undead.

Looking around the area, Pyrrha saw that there were still signs that people had been there recently, like the remnants of a fire pit. Picking her spear out of the draugr's head, she decided to walk around. She went over to the forge area and saw that there were some pieces of ore scattered around the area along with a couple misshapen daggers and a completed handle for another dagger, but no blade.

She then entered the ruins' main building and saw that there were still some draugr lumbering around the area. Throwing her shield into the room, Pyrrha ran forward and spun around before slicing at an undead's neck. The shield sailed across the room before bouncing off the wall and bashing a draugr's head causing it to fly straight up in the air before sailing back towards Pyrrha imbedding itself in a nearby chair.

Pyrrha sliced an undead upward before letting her sword go to allow it to fly in the air. She spun around while grabbing the spear from her back and catching her sword behind her back with her left hand. After that, Pyrrha threw the spear forward pinning a draugr through the chest and into the wall.

* * *

 _Pyrrha entered the town of Vale and began her search. She began by speaking to small street vendors, they said they hadn't seen her. Then she went over to the taverns and started asking around. After the third try she found a tavern owner who had met with the princess and a companion of her's before they started a bar fight._

 _According to the tavern owner, the princess had been asking about the White Fang and their locations, so he told them of a castle ruin to the north. After that, she began making her way north towards the castle ruins._

* * *

After retrieving her spear from the now headless draugr, Pyrrha began searching the ruins for any more enemies. When she didn't find any more above ground, she decided to go down the stairs into the infamous dungeon.

After descending the staircase, she entered a large room with several broken pillars. When she looked around all she could see was two piles of rubble with sheets of metal which appeared to be armor and a group of five draugr lumbering towards the door. When they caught sight of Pyrrha, they each began to growl and charge forward.

The first one ran at Pyrrha swinging its axe at her. She raised her shield in order to block the axe, but she quickly swung her xiphos sword cutting off through the draugr's elbow, effectively disarming it **(QA/N: I had to do it)**. Then she spun around slashing through the draugr's skull forcing it to drop.

She bolted forward stabbing into the next draugr's skull killing it. Before the next draugr could attack her, Pyrrha raised her shield where she predicted it would swing the sword in its hand. When the draugr's sword collided with her shield, Pyrrha suddenly spun around delivering a powerful slash cutting nearly halfway through the undead's chest diagonally. She then spun her body again slashing the rest of the way through the draugr's chest.

Going along with her spin, Pyrrha raised her leg kicking the top portion of the draugr she had just killed into one of the two remaining undead in order to stumble it. She then ran forward at the draugr not stumbled and slammed the broad side of her shield into its chest to throw it into the ground.

Before the draugr landed on the ground, Pyrrha turned and whipped her xiphos sword directly at the only standing draugr impaling it in the head. As the one she shield bashed landed on the ground, Pyrrha pulled her spear off of her back before impaling the spearhead into its head.

After retrieving her weapons, Pyrrha began to search the area more, even entering the large doors of the dungeon to search for any more draugr in the ruins. She searched for a couple hours, then concluded that there were no more undead located in the ruins. So, she made her way back into the courtyard to where her horse was. After mounting the steed, she began making her way back to Redbarrow.

* * *

Yang growled slightly in frustration as she drew the next card from the deck revealing it was the angel of death card. In her hand she had the Song of Mercy, Serpent of Deceit, Angel of Fortitude, and the Knight of Wisdom. Blake smirked as she placed the Knights of Dawn, Roses, Ages, and Sacrifice down of the table. "I believe I just won Wicked Grace again, Yang," she told her.

"No, this is bullshit!" Yang nearly shouted at her as she stood up. "I don't know how, but you're cheating! There is no way you could win every single game in a row without cheating!"

"Or, you could just be bad at this game," Blake said slyly as she collected the cards and began to shuffle them.

"You're rigging this game somehow," Yang said then turned away from Blake. "I'm going to go check up on Ruby. I'm sure Weiss is tired, so I can take over."

"Or you just don't want to lose again," Blake said baiting her.

"I am _going_ to check up on Ruby," Yang said somewhat gritting her teeth as she walked away from Blake to the staircase.

"You do know it isn't that fair to cheat against a novice in Wicked Grace," Ren said as he and Nora walked over to the table and sat down.

"Wicked Grace is a game of cunning, cheating is part of the game," Blake said as she started dealing out the cards. "Though, it requires a lot of skill to not get caught."

"Fine then, let's see if you can win again," Ren said picking up his cards. "Hey Nora, remember what I taught you about playing Wicked Grace?"

"Yep," Nora said with a big smile spread on her face. Blake then shrugged then dealt out Nora's cards before the hammer wielder picked up the cards. "Let's beat up Blake."

* * *

"Ruby, Weiss, how are you guys doing?" Yang asked as she opened the door to Ruby's room to see both Ruby and Weiss standing side by side in mirrored fencing stances. Weiss had her rapier in her left hand while Ruby was holding a straight stick roughly the same length as the rapier also in her left hand. While Yang entered the room Weiss took a quick step forward before thrusting her blade forward, then Ruby copied the motion only slower. It was at that moment the girls noticed Yang, so they got out of the fencing stances. "Ok, well, Weiss, I'm going to watch over Ruby for a while so you can get some rest."

"I'm honestly fine," Weiss told her.

"Yeah, Weiss is also teaching me some of the basics about fencing," Ruby said as she set down her stick against the bed. "Though, it doesn't beat fighting with Crescent Rose."

"Fencing is an elegant fighting style, which is a bit more sophisticated than the flailings of giant two handed weapons," Weiss told her causing Ruby to stick her tongue out at her. "Anyway, fencing techniques can be applied to smaller weapons like the dagger you keep in your boot."

"Well, as much as I'd like to hear where this conversation is going," Yang interrupted getting their attention, "Weiss, you should probably get some sleep so you magic can regenerate sooner."

"She does have a point," Ruby said as she sat down on her bed then pressed her hand against her chest. "Also, I'm starting to get sore."

"Well, I guess," Weiss said then yawned as she sheathed the sword on her belt. "The sooner I'm able to cast magic, then the sooner I can fully heal Ruby." She then stretched before walking out of the room.

"So," Yang said as she looked over at Ruby, "you should be resting."

"Come on Yang, it is incredibly boring just laying in bed all day," Ruby complained to her sister as she removed her hand from her chest.

"Yeah, and not too long ago you were on the verge of death. Qrow himself told you that you need to rest up," Yang told her as she crossed her arms and sat down next to her sister. "A few more days then you should be well enough to travel."

"Yeah, we should probably leave as soon as we possibly can," Ruby told her as she laid back on the bed.

* * *

As soon as Weiss closed the door behind her, she felt a quick pain in her chest despite the bruise on her chest not hurting as much as it had been the day before when she was with Ruby. Gritting her teeth slightly, she neared her room before suddenly her stomach growled, so she turned to her left and began making her way downstairs.

Upon going into the tavern portion of the building, Weiss noticed a game of Wicked Grace being played by Blake, Ren, and Nora. The game seemed to attract the attention of others in the inn, including Jaune who had decided to move closer while playing what Weiss could only guess as a pirate shanty on his guitar. The barkeep didn't seem to mind the music, so Weiss simply passed by him and over to the game before sitting down.

"Hey Weiss," Blake greeted her acknowledging her existence while she focused on the cards in her hands while looking at the deck to make sure someone wouldn't cheat.

"Hey," Ren said for a second as he drew a card before placing one on the table.

"Hello~" Nora sang as she drew her card then placed one from her hand down on the table.

"So, is this the first game?" Weiss asked getting a nod from both Blake and Ren as Blake took her turn. "Well, I guess I might as well go order some food."

"That probably won't happen," Ren said as he looked at his cards confusing Weiss. "The usual cook had to leave because her child is sick and the barkeep is a terrible cook. Though, I'm sure if we paid the barkeep we could probably use the kitchens to make some food."

"Well, I'm not that great of a cook," Weiss told him. "I never really learned because growing up my family hired chefs."

"If you want, I could teach you," Ren told her as he drew another card from the deck before placing one from his hand down on the table. "This game should be over soon. I'm kind of surprised it's been going as long as it has been considering usually by now someone has drawn the Angel of Death card."

"What card?" Nora asked him almost immediately before she had a chance to draw.

"The Angel of Death, it is the one card that stops the game," Ren told her then stopped. "You already have the card don't you?"

"Well," she said revealing her hand to show that she had three other angel cards including Angel of Death, "I drew it three rounds ago, and I already had an angel card."

"So who won?" Weiss asked them.

Blake smirked and placed down her cards which were the Knights of Dawn, Ages, Knowledge, and Wisdom. "I believe that this is my win," she said before Ren held up a finger to stop her.

"It would be your win if you had the Knight of Dusk instead of Ages since that would make it a perfect hand," Ren said as he placed down the Songs of Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn, "But since I have the four seasons, it beats the one pair of related cards despite having four from the same suit."

"How?" Blake asked him as he reached over collecting all of the cards beginning to shuffle the deck.

"Skills," Ren smirked as he finished shuffling before placing the deck on the table and looking up at Weiss. "Anyway, we can try to cook some food. Nora, do you want any-" He paused as he saw Nora already drooling. "Right, I'll make you some food too."

* * *

After Pyrrha returned to Redbarrow, she visited the local lord to inform him that the ruins were clear of draugr. He was, a bit more enthusiastic than she had hoped he would be, but he rewarded her handsomely with a somewhat large bag of gold coins.

When she finally left the manor, Pyrrha then began with her search again by asking around the town if they had seen the princess only to come up with everyone saying she had stayed the night at the Redbarrow Rest along with others. It had already been nighttime by the time she finished asking around, so she decided to rest for the evening.

The next morning she began asking around again, but this time a hunter at the local tavern told her that he saw the group of teenagers leave town on the westward road. Then he informed her that the only town on that road was Squall's End, but was a three day ride from Redbarrow.

After she got the first real lead, Pyrrha immediately left the tavern and went over to the stables. She quickly loaded her supplies before mounting the horse. Then she left the town on the westward and began making her way towards the town of Squall's End.

* * *

After two days of constant horse riding along the coastal roads, Qrow managed to arrive back at Vale. He made his way through the streets, Qrow crossed the lake and finally got to Fort Beacon. Entering the fort, Qrow passed by several knights in training before making his way to the main tower. He climbed the stairs and entered Ozpin's office.

"Qrow, I assume you have a reason for being here," Ozpin said as he looked up from the reports on his desk. "Did you come up with any leads?"

"Oz, we need to talk," Qrow told him as he walked into the room.

* * *

 **So yeah, Pyrrha's mission is to search for Weiss in order to strengthen borders between Atlas and Mistral, which makes sense as to why Pyrrha would actually be in Vale.**

 **Wicked Grace is a card game from Dragon Age where you need to get cards in a matching suit, like the serpents, songs, angels, and knights. The more you have in a suit the more likely you are to win, but the game is over when a person draws the Angel of Death. Also, similar cards in a card suit make it more probable to win. Due to this game being how it is, in Dragon Age, rogues will often cheat at this game in order to win, so that's why the game eventually evolved into who can cheat the best in order to win.**

 **Anyone here play Overwatch? I've been recently getting into the game playing it on my brother's console. Apparently the characters I'm best at are Mercy and Pharah, but more so Mercy, I even got the new year skin in a loot box.**

 **So, like I said before, I am tired, so I'm probably going to get some sleep now.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	41. Flaming Porridge and Magic Training

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. I'm finishing this just after the weekend was over, so I'm sticking to my schedule.**

 **I decided to make this chapter a bit longer so that I do do what I wanted so I could have the group leave Squall's End in the next chapter. Yep, I will make that happen even if I have to make a much longer chapter to do so.**

 **So anyway, I think you guys are going to enjoy this chapter. Plenty of comedy, some WhiteRose moments, Blake's answer, Yang fighting grimm, and even a character I've been wanting to put with the group for a while.**

 **Anyway, reviews:**

 **Neph Champion: Pyrrha may cause some upset, after all, she has been tasked to find Weiss and deliver her directly to her father. The group's goal is to search for the White Fang and stop them. I currently have something in the works for Ruby and fencing.**

 **Rapter267: What platform do you play on? If we ever were on the same team you'll have yourself a pocket Mercy.**

 **Yaksher: I already answered your question.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Yes, Weiss's... condition. I really hope you really do know what is going on so this isn't weird. I'm working on the Pyrrha meeting the group scene, so far it seems interesting.**

 **Shadowbane2243: Guess what, it will be revealed in this chapter.**

 **Guest: I mean, I guess. She is going across the world in order to search for a single person destroying every enemy in her way.**

 **Darkness3rick: You read all the chapters in two days and finished a couple hours before I posted the next chapter. I'm kind of sorry I didn't get this done earlier. You might like the scene at the end of the chapter.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Cinder knows about Ruby," Qrow told him as Ozpin lowered his cup to the desk in front of him. "Back in Squall's End, Roman Torchwick saw her eyes before escaping. He mentioned that he was working with her, and if Salem knows about Ruby's existence, it makes it that much more dangerous."

"The witch of the wilds," Ozpin said as he reached into his desk. "I am going to assume you informed the girls about the danger they're in."

"Well, yes," he said as Ozpin dug further into his desk before pulling out a large book, then went back to digging in the desk. "If Cinder and her minions are working with the White Fang, then they deserved to know who was coming after them and why."

"Well, I wasn't going to tell you that you were wrong in doing so," Ozpin told him as he pulled a green crystal from the desk, "I was just making sure so I could be sure of augmenting your niece and the princess's magical learning progress."

"What are you doing, Oz?" Qrow asked him as Ozpin held the crystal in his hand before rubbing his thumb on the top causing it to glow. Qrow then watched as a green light came from a tower outside of the window. Then the windows burst open and from the other tower a blonde woman wearing a short black cape flew across the empty gap between the towers landing in the Ozpin's office.

"What happened?" Glynda asked Ozpin. "The crystal was lit." She then saw Qrow and sighed before adjusting her glasses. "Qrow, what did you do?"

"And why do you just assume that I did something?" Qrow asked her.

"Why else would you be here?"

"As much as I'd like this banter to continue, Glynda, I have a mission for you," Ozpin said getting her attention. "I need you to travel to Squall's End using the planal knife. Over there, you will need to meet with Yang Xiao Long and Weiss Schnee, two young girls who only recently developed magical powers. Your mission is simply to teach them in order to prevent them from having magical surges. Assist them for as long as you can, then return here."

"Weiss Schnee, isn't that-"

"Yes, the Princess of Atlas seems to have the magic of healing and control over ice," Ozpin told her, "and considering that the White Fang now knows where she is, they will hunt her and everyone she's travelling with, so they need as much control over their powers as they can. She also needs to keep her identity secret, so don't call her by her last name."

"I understand," Glynda said as she pulled the planal knife she retrieved from Ozpin out of her pocket. Before she stabbed the air, she turned back to Ozpin. "You do understand that the planal knife only has four uses left on it."

"Yes, I do," he said straightening out the reports on his desk. "You will have to use two of those uses for travelling to Squall's End, and then return. You will need to place the planal knife back in the vault when you return here. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Commander," she said as she stabbed the air creating a portal to an alley back in Squalls End. "You know, the planal knife would have more uses if _someone_ didn't treat the precious artifacts in the vault as their own private toy collection."

"My dear Glynda, I have reason for each thing I do," Ozpin said with a smirk as he took a drink from his cup while she walked through the portal closing it behind her.

* * *

"Weiss, I don't think that porridge is supposed to catch on fire like that," Ren remarked as he looked at the foot tall flames shooting from the bowl in front of them. "We've tried making this for the past day, and this is the one attempt closest to real porridge we've had."

"I've been trying," Weiss mumbled as she watched Ren put out the fames.

"Well, I'm sure we can still make something," Ren said as he rolled up his sleeves. "How about we go back to me helping you out. We were able to make edible bread on the first day."

"I guess," Weiss pouted as she and Ren started to make the dough.

* * *

Back in the tavern, Jaune, Nora, and Yang were playing their game of Wicked Grace. Without Blake and Ren there, the game progressed normally except where Nora drew the Angel of Death without telling anyone again. They didn't notice as the door to the tavern opened and two figures walked into tavern making their way to the table.

"Hey," the man said poking Yang in the shoulder causing the brawler to look and see Vidar standing behind her with his smaller friend standing behind him, "You and I have a problem."

"What are you doing here?" Yang asked as she looked away from Vidar and his friend. "I'm not really in the mood for a rematch. I just want to play this card game then leave town."

"You have something of mine," Vidar said confusing Yang as she looked up at him. "You cheated in our match by using magic. So you owe me my fifty gold."

"What are you talking about?" Yang asked him as she stood up while Nora reached her hand under the table to her left where the hammer was located. "Sure I have magic, but I'm only able to create fire."

"Don't lie to me, you used your magic in order to get an edge in our fight," he said cracking his neck and knuckles. "Look, just give me my gold and I'll leave, and things won't have to get messy."

"But I didn't cheat in our fight," Yang nearly growled at him. "You lost the fight, and since you can't accept your loss, you decide that the only explanation is magic. I won't give your the gold that you lost in our wager."

"You bit-" Vidar swore as he threw his hand forward in a punch only to have it hit a solid circle of light. Then Vidar began to lift into the air as the doors to the tavern opened and a blonde woman wearing a short cape floated into the building.

"Honestly, children," Glynda sighed as she snapped her fingers causing Vidar to immediately straighten out as the solid light circles appeared around his wrists, ankles, and neck restraining him. "What is this petty squabble about?"

"Uhh.." Yang said just staring at the woman who flew into the tavern.

"Well, spit it out Ms. Xiao Long, we don't have all day," Glynda said causing Yang to immediately snap back to attention.

"Well, Ms. Mysterious Lady, this man lost a fight two days ago and he thinks I cheated using magic," Yang explained as she cautiously stepped backwards to where her gauntlets were located on the table while Nora picked up her hammer, ready to jump into the fight and Jaune reached to his belt grabbing his sword's hilt.

"Well then," Glynda said looking Yang over for a second before looking at Vidar. "You certainly do have immense magic running through your body, and this man clearly is no mage. However," she then looked at Vidar's small friend, "You are a different story."

"Wh-what? I have no idea what you are talking about," the smaller man said, but then Glynda snapper her fingers causing a nearby knife fly from the table it was resting on to have its tip press against his throat causing a slight white glow appear in front of the blade.

"Just as I thought, you're the mage," Glynda said releasing Vidar and dropping the knife. "Barrier magic, a rather simple magic that nearly any mage can cast, though they tend to only cast that spell on themselves. I'm going to guess you never did have any formal magic training, so in order for you to train yourself, you just expanded on the only magic you knew, growing to be able to cast barriers on others. Then you two go town to town scamming the occupants by placing the barrier on your friend here while banning magic in the match. Did I get anything wrong here?"

"Well, no," the smaller man said backing up from Glynda causing her to sigh.

"Just leave, and take your friend with you," she said adjusting her glasses. "Both combatants cheated during the fight, thus the match was more even meaning Xiao Long won fairly." Vidar and the mage didn't say anything, they just quickly turned around before running out the door. Glynda then turned around to Yang, Nora, and Jaune. "So then, I'm sure you have many questions. Allow me to answer them. My name is Glynda Goodwitch, court mage for Fort Beacon. I am here under orders to teach both Yang Xiao Long and Weiss Sc-" Glynda immediately cut herself off as she almost said the Princess's last name. She then looked directly at Yang. "Anyway, I am here to teach you how to better control your magic after your uncle gave his report to my superior about one of you having a magical surge which in turn has affected the local area's weather."

"That was Weiss. She had to do it in order to save Ruby," Yang told her.

"Oh I believe I know the reasons why one would have a magical surge," Glynda said as she looked around the tavern. "This place would not be an ideal location for your training. Ms. Xiao Long, please come with me outside so we can go to a better location."

"But I should stay here if Ruby needs my help," Yang said looking to Jaune and Nora who quickly averted their gazes from the mage and started to deal out cards for another game of Wicked Grace.

"I believe you are travelling in a group of seven, so surely someone can watch your sister for one afternoon while you train to better control your magical abilities," Glynda said to her then looked over to Jaune and Nora.

Jaune made the mistake of looking up. "Well, Blake is with her now, but Weiss has actually been spending most of her time with Ruby," he said then looked back down to the game of cards on the table.

"So, with that being said, Ms. Xiao Long, please come with me," Glynda said as she walked towards the door before her feet lifted themselves off the ground and she floated out of the building.

Yang looked over to Jaune and Nora who were staring at the flying woman as she closed the door behind her without touching it. "She doesn't seem to be taking no for an answer," Jaune said with a shrug, "Also, if the court mage of Fort Beacon comes here, restrains a man with her mind, then says she's here to teach you magic, you should probably go."

"Well that's some solid logic right there," Yang said throwing her hands in the air when the tavern door opened by itself.

"Any day Ms. Xiao Long," Glynda said as she floated back to the doorway. "The sooner we are done with training both of you, the sooner I can return to Beacon in order to continue my research on dangerous ancient artifacts."

"Alright," Yang said as she walked out of the tavern.

* * *

"So…" Ruby drawled out as she looked over to Blake who was reading one of her new books.

"So what?" Blake asked looking up from her book.

"So, do you want to do something?" Ruby asked her. "It's going to be boring if we just sit here doing nothing. Yang and I played games and Weiss was teaching me about fencing."

She looked at her raising an eyebrow. "Do you wish to learn the way of the ninja, where you learn how to kill your enemies quickly and silently while blending into the night?"

"Well, that kind of fighting isn't really what I do," she said looking to her scythe and crossbow sitting in the corner of the room.

Blake sat there for a moment thinking to herself before she reached to the pouch on her thigh and pulled out three shuriken between her fingers. Then she threw them at the wall each landing right next to each other on the wall. "Do you want to learn how to throw your dagger like that?"

"That would be awesome!" Ruby exclaimed as she looked at Blake.

* * *

"So, where are we going?" Yang asked as she followed the floating mage through the forest path.

"Simple, we're here to find you a grimm," Glynda told her as she looked around the forest. "There is one." She telekinetically picked up a stone and threw it into the forest. Shortly after there was a low guttural roar.

"Are you crazy?" Yang nearly shouted at her as the grimm started running through the forest destroying trees as it ran.

"No," she simply replied as she sat down still floating in the air. "Your magic gives you control over fire that you create by focusing magic into your hands, but that's not all of it. Your control over fire was given to you by a magic tome. Your original magic augments your strength by strengthening your muscles. That is why you are able to lift objects no person your size could. It also benefits you by making you capable of punching harder and even through magic barriers, just like your fight with Vidar." The roaring became louder as the thundering footsteps approached. "So, in order to test your strength, kill this grimm without using your fire magic."

"Really?" Yang asked her as a large ursa major broke from the forest line. It then looked at the two women before roaring.

"This should be a rather simple task for you," Glynda told her as she looked at the grimm.

* * *

"It is rather impressive that you can to throw knives this quickly," Blake said as Ruby threw her knife into the wall, "Though, I don't think that the innkeeper will like us damaging the walls?"

"Well, maybe we can hang something on the wall, then the innkeeper might not know we did that," Ruby said as she walked to the wall to retrieve her knife then walked back over to the bed. "I probably won't be throwing my knives as much as you, but this may be something good to learn."

"Yes, sometimes you may need a ranged attack, although you do have the crossbow, so the likelihood of you being in a situation that requires you throwing your knife is very low," Blake said as she walked over to the door. "I'm going to head over to my room to get a different book. One can only read about demons for so long."

After Blake left the room, she made her way down the hall towards her room. Suddenly, she heard a small thump inside the room. Approaching the door, she reached over to her belt and grabbed the hilt of her shortsword. She opened the door to see a dark room only illuminated by the light from outside and in front of the window sill was the White Fang woman staring at Blake with a smirk behind that mask.

"I was wondering when you were going to visit," Blake said as she walked into the room, still keeping her hand on the shortsword. "I guess it's better now than when we're travelling."

"Yes, better to get your answer when I know exactly where to find you," she said as she walked further into the room towards Blake. "So, what exactly is your answer, are you going to return to the White Fang, or stay with your silly human friends?"

"The decision was simple," Blake told her as she let go of her shortsword causing the woman to get in a more relaxed stance, still somewhat cautious of Blake. "The White Fang had been my life ever since I was freed. I owed them everything, but…" She reached over and drew her katana before aiming the tip at her. "The White Fang has changed, and you know it. They were all about freeing the faunus slaves across Remnant, not assassinating queens. The White Fang is not _my_ White Fang, I won't ever be coming back. So send your assassins, I will fight them."

"You have made a grave mistake," the woman said as she turned her back to Blake and walked over to the window then opened it. "The White Fang does not allow traitors to live, so the next time our paths cross, one of us will die." She then removed her White Fang mask before placing it on the window sill. After that, she gracefully dived through the window leaving Blake alone in the room.

* * *

"Ok, is that enough for your test?" Yang asked Glynda as she watched the dead ursa major start to turn to ash while breathing heavily.

"That would seem to be interesting enough," Glynda said as she floated down to the ground and walked around Yang. "You would seem to channel your emotions into the fight making yourself hit harder. While useful, it can be dangerous since when a mage loses control over their emotions, they can create a magic surge. As you already know, a magic surge completely depletes your magic, but may be useful in a situation to resolve it quickly. If the mage survives the magic surge, their initial magic reserves do increase."

"What are you talking about?" Yang asked her as she began breathing normally.

"In terms you may understand," she began thinking for a second, "Your magic is like a muscle. When you train your muscles you must work them till they hurt, and after they heal you get stronger. The same concept could easily be applied to magic except that in magic there are two ways of doing it: safely practicing their magic in order to build it slowly, or take the more serious route and try to survive several magic surges."

"So, if I keep practicing at my magic, I will be able to cast more," Yang said piecing it together.

"Essentially, yes. Though, you may be able to exude more magic into your punches in order to hit harder by channeling your emotions, but you do run the risk of a magical surge," Glynda explained as she telekinetically picked up another rock and threw it into the forest. "So, this time I want you to fight this grimm using only your fire magic." She then sat down on nothing before floating up in the air.

"Wait, are you serious?" Yang asked her as two large ursa came barreling out of the forest.

"Yes, Ms. Xiao Long, we need to see how much magical energy you have in order to see how much you can safely exude in order to train your magic," she told her as she floated up to branch level of nearby trees. That caused Yang to groan as she slapped her hands together igniting her fists.

* * *

"Stupid Ren and his stupid perfect cooking skills," Weiss mumbled as she walked into Ruby's room carrying a wooden plate with somewhat burnt food, including the bread she managed to make and a bowl of porridge she didn't set on fire. She then turned to Ruby immediately changing her attitude to a more pleasant one.

"Hello," Ruby greeted her as Weiss walked over to her chair next to Ruby's bed.

"Hi, I tried my hand at cooking with Ren's help," Weiss said gesturing to the plate of food she was carrying. As she sat down on the chair, Weiss did notice that the pain in her chest she had been having for the past two days had gone away. "It's still not very good."

"Well, maybe the next chance we get, I can try to help you with cooking," Ruby suggested as she quickly reached over to Weiss and stole the bowl of porridge. Weiss immediately extended her hand to try and take the bowl back and stop Ruby from eating her cooking. "Consider this payback for stealing my venison."

"It's not that," Weiss said as she looked down to the side to try and hide her embarrassment. "My cooking is not that good."

Ruby just looked at her then to the bowl in her hands before eating a spoonful. She was quiet for a moment as she ate the porridge. "It's… it's good," Ruby said as she ate another spoonful.

"Well, uhh... thanks," Weiss said keeping her head down as her cheeks started to turn a shade of red. She then noticed as her chest felt like it was heating up after Ruby's compliment.

* * *

"Ok…" Yang said then took a deep breath as she watched the ursa burn in front of her. "Is that… enough?"

Glynda then floated back to the ground taking her riding crop off of her belt. "Yes, Ms. Xiao Long, I think that will be enough for today," she said then waved the crop at Yang causing her to float in the air for a second before Glynda placed her in a sitting position against a boulder. "So, from what I can tell, you have much more endurance to use your magic in a fist fight with enemies rather than using fire, but the fire does seem to do more damage. In the future, I would suggest using the fire more often in order to train."

"So, does that mean we're done for the day?" Yang asked as she finally began breathing normally.

"Yes, we are," Glynda answered her when a group of five ursai and four beowolves exited the forest to the path, "and it seems like we are not alone."

"Do I have to fight those too?" Yang asked as she started to get up.

Glynda stopped her. "No, you've fully exerted yourself today," she said adjusting her glasses as she readied her riding crop. "I also think it would be beneficial to you if you see the benefits of magic training firsthand." Raising the riding crop into the air, there was a low thundering sound as dark clouds started to form above them. She then swung the crop down causing nine bolts of lightning to shoot down from the clouds striking each of the grimm, then in a split second the grimm vaporized. Glynda simply adjusted her glasses as she attached her crop to her belt then snapped her fingers causing both her and Yang to float before going back in the direction of the town.

* * *

"So, you and Ren spent the last two days cooking," Ruby said to Weiss as she placed the empty bowl of porridge down on the side of the bed.

"Yeah, I'm still not good at it," Weiss said as she placed the wooden plate down next to the bowl.

"Well, I'm guessing you've never had any other cooking experiences, so two days isn't really enough time to perfect cooking," Ruby said then thought for a second before chuckling. "I still remember when Summer was teaching Yang how to bake. She burned a tart's crust and cried saying it was ruined and the only way Summer was able to calm her down was to finish the tart then ate some of it saying it was the best she ever had."

"I could never imagine Yang crying over some burnt crust," Weiss said chuckling a little.

"We were both really young back then, but Yang got better at cooking," Ruby told her then sighed. "When I was old enough to learn cooking, it was actually Yang who taught me with dad checking in every once in awhile to make sure we weren't burning down the house."

"I'm sure if Winter were to try and cook she'd burn down the castle," Weiss said with a chuckle. "We had several maids and butlers, but I spent most of my time with Klein and he did occasionally make raspberry jam cookies for me and Whitley."

"What about your sister?"

"Winter was too busy learning what she needed to know in order to be Queen one day, so she never had that much time to spend with Whitley and me," Weiss said then she and Ruby both went silent for a little while. Weiss then shifted in her chair feeling her rapier push against the chair. "Hey, do you want to pick up where we left off in fencing?"

"Sure, I think I can do a lot of moving around," Ruby told her as she got out of the bed. Though the first few steps were a bit wobbly due to not walking very often the past few days. She immediately corrected herself walking around to the other side of the room where the practice stick was.

"Alright, so let's go get you into the proper stance," Weiss said as she drew her sword and stood next to Ruby. "Keep your left foot forward and try to keep your stick level with the ground. Now follow me."

As she started getting into the practice maneuvers, Weiss began to notice that Ruby was getting faster at keeping up with her, which made Weiss smile as she started going through the maneuvers faster before she quickly lunged forward striking at an invisible opponent. As Ruby did the lunge she coughed before she tripped landing down on the ground.

"Ruby!" Weiss exclaimed as she dropped her rapier in order to turn and check up on Ruby.

"I'm fine," Ruby said in between coughs as Weiss knelt down next to her placing her hand on Ruby's back. "It's just a cough, it'll be fine."

"No, it's not fine," Weiss told her as Ruby looked up at her. "You nearly died and I tried to heal you, but I couldn't heal you fully." She leaned in closing her eyes as she rested her forehead on Ruby's own. "I hate seeing you hurt, but I can't do anything about it, and it hurts me when I can't."

"Weiss," Ruby said as she looked up at her.

It was at that moment that Ruby noticed that Weiss's hair began to glow white. Then Ruby's forehead began to feel warm as Weiss's forehead began to glow. Ruby then began to feel better, her abdomen stopped feeling sore and the urge to cough had stopped. Shortly after Ruby felt better the glow subsided and the two sat there resting their foreheads against each other in silence.

Eventually, Ruby was the one who broke the silence. "Weiss… thank you," she said causing Weiss to smile as she opened her eyes to look directly Ruby's.

* * *

 **Yeah, I think that's a good whiterose moment. Weiss even managed to restore her magic just in time to heal Ruby, much earlier than Qrow anticipated. I'm sure some people were noticing that the pain in Weiss's chest was related to her being away from Ruby, which is another step closer to the romance people want.**

 **Glynda is joining the group as a teacher for both Weiss and Yang. In the chapters where she is with the group I may explain more about how magic works, like why some mages can learn different kinds of magic, how many different magics a mage can learn, just how powerful she is to be the court mage, and even some lore.**

 **Blake has refused the offer to join the White Fang. Were you guys really worried she was going to say 'yes'? I also figured that her saying that the White Fang was not her White Fang would be something she would say. Now we just get to see when the assassins come after her.**

 **So, I may be a little late for this, but I kind of feel like I should say this. Five days ago was the two year anniversary of Monty Oum's death. I'm sure you've seen other stories where people have been saying we should all be mourning his death, but I don't think we should. I don't think he would want that. If anything, we should celebrate his life and all of his works, and everyone on the site is basically doing that. After all, we are reading and writing stories based on his story that everyone liked so much they wanted to make more content since they loved it. Well, that's just what I think.**

 **Anyway, I should probably go to bed soon since I have class today.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	42. Spirits and Magic Training

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. I think you guys will like this one.**

 **So, I set up a Twitter account. I'm going to basically use it for random thoughts and updates on chapters, so if you guys want to check it out, go to (at symbol)ProbablyJ_VanA because _every_ version of J. Van A was already taken, plus I thought it was funny to have my username be _probably_ me. I have a link up in my bio on my profile.**

 **We do get some interesting content in this chapter, like Jaune, Ren, and Nora playing Wicked Grace, Glynda teaching Weiss about why mages can do magic, some WhiteRose to hold you guys over, and the group leaves town like I promised.**

 **Reviews:**

 **Neph Champion: I believe I've said this before, but Blake and Ruby will not gain magic, ever. Ruby has powerful magic in her eyes because of the legend of the silver eyes, but she cannot use it. Blake is simply not able to cast magic.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: They're leaving at the end of this chapter, whether or not the White Fang is here is yet to be seen. Blake and Weiss will have an interesting argument in the near future.**

 **Rapter267: Nooooooo! I only play on Xbox One. I plan to build a gaming PC in the future so maybe we can play then.**

 **Darkness3rick: *booming voice* Wish granted!**

 **Cypher AA39: The one year anniversary is on the 14th of next month, so I might do something for that too.**

 **iamking: I was mostly done with the chapter when you posted that review, so I tried to put in some interaction between them, but couldn't squeeze it in anywhere. So next chapter I will try to do that.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"And Angel of Death adds a fifth angel to my hand making this my win," Ren said as he laid his hand down on the table

"Oh come on!" Jaune groaned as he threw down his mediocre hand down on the table. "You're cheating, I swear!"

"Well, if you think I am, feel free to point out what I'm doing," Ren told him as he reached for the cards only to have Jaune stop him and take the cards.

"I don't trust you," Jaune said as he began shuffling the deck.

"C'mon, this is Ren, he's pretty trustworthy," Nora defended her childhood friend as she watched Jaune shuffle his deck while staring at Ren.

"As far as I know, you're helping him," Jaune accused her giving her a slight glare.

As his line of sight changed to Nora, Ren quickly reached into his sleeve to pull out four cards and place them on his leg. Then Jaune looked back at Ren allowing Nora to reach across the table with her bare foot and take the cards. Jaune started dealing out the cards all while staring at Ren, so Nora had plenty of time to swap her cards placing the ones dealt to her in her belt pouch.

"You know," Nora said discarding the one card Ren didn't give her before drawing the next one, "this would be a bit more fun if we had a fourth person."

"Well, Blake is probably still in her room," Jaune said as he took his turn, stealing glances at Ren. "We could probably go ask her if she wants to play."

"Actually, I think it would be cool if we got another person in our group," she said as Ren took his turn. "When we split into groups, we could have two teams of four." She took her turn discarding the card she drew previously. "Also, imagine how fun Wicked Grace is going to be with eight people."

"Don't you think we have too many people already?" Ren asked her as Jaune took his turn, groaning in frustration when he looked at the card he just drew. "As interesting as it would be to have more people, too many may cause problems during a fight."

"She kind of has a point," Jaune said. "The others seem like they're already a team, and the three of us are always together, so if we had a fourth we could be a team. Also we could always use more help."

As they were having their discussion, they didn't notice as two people descended the stairs. "Guess who's better?" Weiss asked as she and Ruby approached the table. Each person looked up at the duo. Ren simply looked up and made a quick wave before going back to the game. Jaune had to turn around but he put on a smile.

"Ruby!" Nora exclaimed as she jumped from her chair hugging the red reaper.

"Yes… it's nice to see you too," Ruby managed to say as she patted Nora's back in response to the bone crushing hug. Moments later Nora let go and walked back to her chair. "So where's Yang?"

"Well," Jaune said looking away from Ruby, "some lady flew in here saying she was the Court Mage of Beacon and was here to train Weiss and your sister. Then she took Yang some place to train."

"And you guys just let some random woman who claimed to be a court mage take Yang away?" Weiss asked them as she and Ruby sat around the table.

Jaune was about to answer again before the inn's front door opened. "I assure you, Ms. Weiss, I am the Court Mage of Beacon, Glynda Goodwitch. The very same person who created that magic chainmail that has saved your life and the lives of Ms. Xiao Long and Ms. Rose."

"Also, even if she's not the court mage, she still is powerful," Yang said as Glynda moved her to an empty chair and set her down, "and she wants to train us."

"Yang, you look exhausted," Ruby said as she moved over to her sister.

"And you look much better," Yang said as she looked up at her sister with a smile. "Honestly, I leave for one afternoon and you finish healing."

"Well, Weiss helped," Ruby said causing Weiss's cheeks to turn a shade of red before she turned away. "She actually recovered her magic and healed me."

"Did she now?" Glynda asked as she looked over the princess. "You should've had a few more days before being able to cast small magic, so to recover so soon after a magical surge is interesting."

"Well…" Weiss said as she scratched the back of her neck. "I don't fully understand it myself."

"Just a second," Glynda said as she raised her hand in front of Weiss's face causing it to glow for a second when she closed her eyes. "It would seem that you have fully recovered, except for when you had cast the healing spell on Ms. Rose." She pulled out a small bottle from her side pouch and handed it to Weiss. "Drink this."

"What is this?" Weiss asked as she looked at the bright blue liquid in the bottle.

"That, is an alchemical concoction that uses Dust to restore a mage's magical energy," Glynda said causing the princess to raise an eyebrow.

"Isn't Dust incredibly explosive?" Weiss asked her as she moved the bottle a little further away from herself. "That's why the military uses them for cannons."

"While that is true," Glynda began as she leaned against a nearby table and adjusted her glasses, "pure Dust has certain magical properties that when mixed with other select ingredients, can restore a mage's magical energy. One would think you, of all people, would know this." Weiss was about to ask he about that, but then remembered Glynda was probably an ally of Qrow's. "Just drink the potion."

"Could I possibly get one of those?" Yang asked her from her chair barely managing to raise a hand as Weiss popped off the cork and began drinking the potion.

"No," she immediately answered. "You are working on expanding your magic reserves. If you drink a potion that restores your energy, your reserves will not grow despite all your effort you put in today."

"Great," Yang groaned throwing her head back.

"Just get some rest, your magic reserves should return by the time you wake up," Glynda told her as she turned to Weiss. "You, follow me, I need to test you before figuring out a training regime."

"Don't do it, it's a trap," Yang warned her. "She's going to make you fight grimm by yourself."

"Actually, no," she said before Weiss could ask a question. "For you, fighting grimm was an easy way to test your limits of your strength augmentation. For your friend she will have to simply cast her magic."

"So, should I go get my things?" Weiss asked her gesturing towards the upstairs behind her with her thumb.

"Yes, especially your sword considering it has your crystal," Glynda said as Weiss turned around to go get her things. She then looked over Ruby. "So, you appear to be in good condition."

"Well, Weiss did heal me," Ruby said to the woman who stepped a little closer her looking into the younger girl's eyes. "Also, I do heal faster than most. Umm, what are you doing?"

"Just clarifying something," she said then stepped back. "If it had been anyone else taking that beating they would be dead. That chainmail I created is designed to absorb most of an impact making it useful during combat; so for you to be brought to the brink of death must mean that Torchwick is capable of considerable bludgeoning damage."

"Can we please not talk about the man who nearly killed my sister?" Yang asked in slight annoyance both from tiredness and the mention of him.

"Well, the topic of him should not be avoided," Glynda explained to her and the rest of the group. "After his defeat here, your group has essentially painted a target on your backs. So, you all have the possibility of running into him again, or even those he's associated with."

"Ooh! We'll break his legs!" Nora suggested when she stood up from the game with a large grin on her face as she lifted her hammer in the air.

"I like that idea," Yang said lazily raising her hand in the air then pointed at Nora.

"Ok, I have my things," Weiss said approaching the group as she adjusted the belt used to hold her rapier. "Where are we going?"

"We will find a suitable location within the town to test your skills," Glynda said as she began to float towards the door. "Please follow me."

"Good luck," Ruby said to Weiss who turned and smiled before following the court mage.

* * *

"So, where are we going?" Weiss asked after she followed Glynda for a period of time walking through the town.

"As I said, we will find a suitable location for testing your skills," she said as they turned around a corner and went straight. "I believe that will do."

"What?" Weiss asked as she looked straight ahead and saw the docks and the warehouse both she and Ruby were held in. "No."

"It is a relatively isolated area with plenty of space," Glynda explained as she neared the building. "So, it is perfect for testing your magical capabilities. Anyway, that is where we are going, or would you rather we go into the forest and have you fight some grimm like I did with Ms. Xiao Long?"

"We'll go to the warehouse," Weiss said somewhat defeated. Moments later they entered the empty warehouse where some ice still hung from the ceiling. "So, how are you going to test me? Just have me cast magic at the walls?"

"No, to get a better understanding of your magic capabilities we will need you to fight an enemy," Glynda explained as she raised her riding crop into the air keeping it parallel to the ground.

"Wait, you want me to fight you?" Weiss asked backing up a little bit.

"No, don't be silly, you would not survive," Glynda said as she closed her eyes causing the cape on her back to flutter slightly as an air current started forming in the room. "I don't suppose you're familiar with the reasons why people can cast magic?"

"Not particularly," Weiss said. "I've only developed magic recently."

"Well, I will explain it as fast and simply as I can," she said as the purple inside of her cape began to glow. "There exists a realm of magic that all mages draw their power from. This is the realm where beings of pure magic exist called spirits and demons. We call this realm the Fade. How much magic a mage can draw from the Fade depends on several factors, one of the most prominent being the mage's bloodlines.

In front of her a purple circle of light with mist started to appear in front of her. "A mage's bloodline can also attribute to how many different forms of magic can learn. For example, your family's bloodline allows for you to learn six different forms of magic, three of which are taken."

"Three?" Weiss asked her.

"Yes," she said as a dark purple helmet started to slowly raise itself from the circle. "Healing, ice and the Schnee family magic."

"The Schnee family magic?"

"Yes, your family has a certain kind of magic that has been kept secret from the world excluding certain individuals," she said as the dark purple armored figure was half risen from the ground revealing its actual body consisted glowing yellow light. "There are some speculations as to what the magic is, like necromancy or control over grimm, but your family has kept it secret."

"And that means I can only learn three more types of magic. How many kinds of magic do you know?" Weiss asked her as the armored figure fully raised from the ground wielding a large dark purple buster sword.

"Twenty," Glynda answered her nonchalantly. "Originally, I was only able to do eight, but through hard work I was able to raise it."

"How can a mage raise that?"

"There are various ways to raise one's magic, one of them is to form a bond with a spirit in order to borrow magic," Glynda said to her gesturing at the armored figure standing in the room. "This is a Spirit of Valor from the Fade. Spirits seek out and latch onto specific purposes, and they can help mortals if it helps fulfil their purposes. A demon is simply a spirit that has lost its purpose."

"So, you want me to fight this spirit?" Weiss asked the mage looking at the spirit who had been staring at the two this entire time.

"Certainly, Spirits of Valor are spirits of combat who will spar with you for the sake of an honorable duel. Now if you were to encounter him in the fade and win a duel, he would pledge his loyalty to you allowing you to borrow his magic," she said as she snapped her fingers causing a chair to slide across the room for her to sit on. "Due to him being a spirit, he cannot die while being summoned to the mortal realm, so he can be used to test others on both their combat and magical capabilities."

"So, I just have to fight him?" Weiss asked her as she drew her sword causing Valor to grip his with both hands raising it in a battle stance.

"Yes, but remember, this is to test your combat _and_ magic capabilities, so don't just focus on sword fighting," Glynda told her as she adjusted her seat. "You may begin."

* * *

"Blake, are you in here?" Ruby asked as she walked into the faunus's room at the inn only to be greeted by darkness. "Ok, so you're not here. Where could she be?"

"Ruby, I'm here," Blake said from the darkness causing Ruby to jump at the sudden noise.

"Blake, what are you doing in the dark?"

"I'm a cat faunus, I can see in the dark," Blake said as she walked around the room to find a candle before lighting it allowing Ruby to see most of the room. From what Ruby could tell, Blake had been sitting in a chair next to the bed for some time. "There is something you guys should see."

"What? What happened?" Ruby asked walking into the room. Blake walked over to the bed where her cloak was placed. Picking up the cloak, Blake pulled out the White Fang mask left by the woman. "What's that?"

"It's a message from the White Fang," Blake answered.

Ruby gasped. "Do they know about Weiss?"

"You know?" Blake asked placing the mask down.

"She kind of used herself to bargain for my release when we were kidnapped," Ruby explained to her as she walked over and picked up the mask. "Qrow said that if Torchwick knew about Weiss, he would probably contact the White Fang so we should move when both Weiss and I were better. So do you think they are coming after Weiss?"

"Probably," Blake lied biting the inside of her lip slightly. "Where is she?"

"She's training her magic with the Court Mage of Beacon, so she should be safe for now," Ruby told her placing the mask back down on the bed. "When she gets back we should leave town. While we may be out in the open, we should be able to see someone coming, but we should take a path that isn't heavily forested. We should also supply on some firewood since winter is coming."

"You've put some thought into this, haven't you?"

"Blake, I've been stuck in bed until today, I've had plenty of time to think of our next move," Ruby answered her, "but we still need a lead on where the White Fang is so we have a destination."

* * *

Weiss ran forward again after being thrown back by Valor. She then channeled magic through her rapier before swinging the blade upward causing ice spikes to shoot from the ground at Valor. He simply pressed his sword into the ground in front of him in order to have the broad side block the ice.

Weiss took her chance and stabbed the ground at the tip of the large sword causing a large amount of ice to form around it pinning it to the ground. That managed to stay for roughly ten seconds before the spirit pulled the blade from the ground, ice and all. Using the extra weight of the weapon, he simply swung the weapon like a warhammer hitting Weiss and throwing her into the wall.

It was at that moment Weiss felt a sharp pain in her right wrist. When she looked over she saw that her hand was bent in the wrong direction causing her to shout in both pain and shock.

"Honestly, child, it's just a broken bone," Glynda said as she removed her hands from her ears.

"I can't fight like this," Weiss said after she finished yelling. "The pain is too much."

"Then do something about it," Glynda said as she adjusted her glasses. "If I remember correctly, you have healing magic."

"But I can't focus on casting magic, the pain is distracting," Weiss complained as she tried to move her hand only for It to twitch slightly causing even more pain to the princess.

"Well, you should get focused. In a fight to the death your opponent isn't going to stop the fight if you break a bone, so neither is this fight," she said as Valor neared her.

He swung his sword at her forcing her to instinctively raise her shield arm to block. The impact from the strike caused the princess's wrist even more harm causing her to shout in pain. Thinking quickly, she rolled out of the way before he could attack again. She then ran off and began trying to focus on healing to no avail. Then Valor started walking towards Weiss only causing her to panic even more.

Just as the spirit came halfway to her, Weiss began to focus again only slightly, just enough to alleviate the pain in her wrist. After her wrist became numb, it allowed Weiss to focus more on magic. She could see her wrist begin to go back to its original position, but after she felt her bones set back in place, the spirit had reached her.

She managed to turn just in time to dodge a downward slash by sidestepping to the right. Then Weiss took her advantage by quickly stabbing the spirit with her rapier focusing some magic into the blade with each strike. This seemed to work slightly as she could see ice begin to form around the spots where she had stabbed. Valor simply let go of the buster sword's handle in order to punch Weiss hitting her on the side of the cheek throwing her to her left and to the ground.

As Weiss alleviated the pain in her cheek, she could feel herself begin hating this spirit. Then before she even knew it, glowing snow and ice began to swirl around her sword as the crystal began to glow a bright white. That beginning of a magical attack interested Glynda forcing her to get into a more focused position leaning in slightly.

Weiss then pressed her right hand on the ground causing the floor to be coated in a thin layer of ice extending to a little past the spirit. That allowed for the knight to slide around and eventually fall over. Then Weiss's magic swirling around her sword finished increasing in speed and she swung the blade in the direction of Valor creating a small blizzard that hit him full force.

When the magic dissipated, both Weiss and Glynda saw the spirit was frozen solid in the position of him being half way getting back up. Moments later the ice shattered and the knight stood back up. Weiss was about to run forward at him, only to stop as she saw the spirit stab the tip of his sword into the ground and kneel next to the sword while holding the hilt with one hand. Then the purple circle formed around the knight and he lowered back into the ground.

"What just happened?" Weiss asked looking at the mage.

"You won the duel, and he has deemed you worthy of valor," Glynda explained as she got off her chair and began walking over to the princess. "And not a moment too soon."

"What do you mean?"

"Try to heal your wrist completely," she said causing Weiss to place her left hand on her wrist. White light radiated from the palm of her hand before suddenly stopping. "You have reached the limit of your magic."

"My wrist still feels kind of broken," Weiss grumbled under her breath.

"If you rest for the night, your magic should return by morning, so you should be able to heal completely," Glynda explained as she snapped her fingers causing both Weiss and her to float off the ground and begin moving towards the door. "Now, we should return to the inn."

* * *

"So, how did I do?" Weiss asked Glynda as they made their way through the town.

"Well, while your combat capabilities are that of a slightly advanced fencer, you are a natural spellcaster," Glynda told her not even looking back. "That miniature blizzard you had cast was a very advanced spell I've only seen few mages cast after a year or two of training. Also, to be able to send ice flying from a different source from yourself is a feat in itself. You could do with some training in focusing past pain so you won't worry about not casting healing magic due to an injury."

After she finished her explanation, Weiss was silent for a little while before she spoke. "So, how can a mage meet with these spirits to increase their magic?"

"It is a very dangerous process where a mage enters the Fade," Glynda explained, somewhat glad at the girl's curiosity and the fact she was teaching again. "While in the Fade, a mage becomes susceptible to demonic possession. If they are clever enough, the mage can avoid this and find a spirit. Then they have to earn the spirit's trust before being able to form a bond."

"It seems kind of easy," Weiss said to her.

"Entering the Fade is a feat itself, so if you manage that, you have a chance of succeeding in this," Glynda told her as she looked at the princess. "The Fade is also a dangerous place, where if you die there, there is a chance of actual damage to your physical body. Some demons are also clever enough to the point where they can disguise themselves as spirits in order to possess mages. Also, the more magical power you gain, the more you are sought after by demons. So by telling you I have made five bonds with these spirits, I hope you understand how much work had to go into my training. There are no shortcuts to power Ms. Schnee, everything has a risk, and everything has a price."

* * *

Returning to the inn, Glynda set Weiss down on a chair nearby to rest. They were both greeted by the sight of everyone playing a game of Wicked Grace, excluding Jaune who was practicing his music nearby muttering about cheaters. Then Glynda simply bid everyone goodnight before floating up the stairs and sitting on the balcony overlooking the tavern before opening a book.

"So Weiss, what did you have to fight?" Yang asked her now somewhat awake as Ren took his turn. "You seem almost as tired as me."

"I had to fight against a spirit," Weiss told her catching the interest of the group. "Apparently Ms. Goodwitch can summon those. Also, I broke my wrist," before she could say another word Ruby was at her side looking at the princess's hands.

"Which one? We have to set it so it heals correctly," Ruby said so fast Weiss barely heard her.

"It's fine," Weiss told her waving the young farm hand off. "I have healing magic, remember?"

"Are you sure it's fine?" Ruby asked her causing the princess's cheeks to heat up from the sudden closeness. That went mostly unnoticed by the group having the mage upstairs being the only one to look from her book and make a mental note.

"It's fine, really," Weiss reassured her. "I'm just a little tired."

"Well, it seems like Ruby is waiting on you _hand_ and foot," Yang said with a smirk causing a couple people at the table to groan slightly.

"That was a stretch and you know it," Jaune said from nearby before going back to strumming his instrument. Yang simply turned to him sticking out her tongue at him.

"Anyway, if you're tired, we should get you in bed," Ruby said to her having the princess begrudgingly stand up and move towards the stairs with the help of Ruby. Moments later the duo walked up the stairs and entered Weiss's room.

"Thank you, Ruby," Weiss said as she let go of the younger girl and started walking towards her bed.

"So, Blake thinks the White Fang knows where we are," Ruby told her causing Weiss to immediately snap to attention. "She found a White Fang mask here that she thinks is a message for us."

"We should leave as soon as we can," Weiss said walking over to Ruby.

"Yes, I talk about it with Blake and we spoke with the others, they all agree that we should leave first thing in the morning," Ruby said. "While you were out, we all went and bought supplies and firewood for the road. So, we should be able to go in the morning, we just need a destination."

"We'll figure it out in the morning," Weiss said walking to her bed and sat down on her bed. When she put some pressure on her wrist, she immediately drew it back and winced from pain. "Ow."

"I thought you said your wrist was fine?" Ruby asked her walking over to the princess who was fighting back tears from the pain.

"It was fine a while ago, but I wasn't able to fully heal the bones because I ran out of magic," Weiss said as Ruby took her hand and inspected it.

"Tell me when it hurts," Ruby said as she applied pressure with her thumbs on her wrist going towards her hand. After a couple tries, Ruby pressed her thumb on one spot where Weiss audibly winced before trying to pull her hand away only to have Ruby hold her arm firm. "Ok, so that's where it hurts." Going back to that spot Ruby ran her fingers across the spot applying little pressure to feel the bones causing Weiss to try hard to not wince. "Well, the bones aren't broken, so it should be fine till you're able to cast magic again."

"It still hurts like hell," Weiss complained.

Ruby simply raised Weiss's hand and kissed the spot causing Weiss's cheeks to turn red and causing her to sputter slightly while her heart was heavily pounding in her chest. "How does it feel now?" Ruby asked with a caring smile. "Summer would always kiss my bumps and scrapes when I was younger and it always helped the pain."

"I-it's fine," Weiss said to her as Ruby looked up at her.

"What about this?" Ruby asked her pressing her hand on Weiss's cheek where Valor had punched her during the fight.

"Well, during the fight I got hit in the face by the spirit," Weiss told her then was surprised by Ruby removing her hand and suddenly kissing her cheek.

"Goodnight, make sure to get some rest so you can get better," Ruby told her as she walked over to the door and left the room.

Weiss sat there stunned for several moments before raising her hand up to her cheek and feeling where Ruby had kissed her. Then her hand moved down to her chest and felt her heart beating hard. "What is wrong with me?" Weiss asked herself as she fell backwards laying on the bed.

* * *

The next morning the group grabbed all of their supplies and made their way to the stables to get their horses. After they got their horses, they began making their way to the northern road out of the town. What they did not see was a woman with red hair following them through the town keeping her distance from the group.

* * *

 **And that is it. Weiss is soon to coming to realize she's falling for Ruby, mostly because of Ruby's accidental flirting.**

 **So, I put in some interesting background as to why and how mages can cast magic. I figured I'm already borrowing some elements from the Dragon Age universe, I could probably have another one with the Fade.**

 **I also hinted towards Weiss's summoning magic. When that actually happens will be determined later.**

 **I am giving Glynda more magic than just telekinesis like in the show, I've already shown another one with the lightning strike in the previous chapter. Summoning spirits is not a form of magic, it is simply something a mage can do after they form a bond with a spirit. Glynda has five, one of them is Valor, so what could the others be?**

 **The next chapter will not come out on time next week, just giving a heads up. I have exams this week and a speech next Tuesday I need to prepare for. To make up for that I will probably make the chapter a longer one.**

 **This is going to be the last time I mention this, but if you guys do want to be updated on chapters or just want to see my random thoughts on day to day life, feel free to follow me on Twitter. I have a link set up on my Bio as well as my username above except for the at symbol because FanFictionnet is weird like that.**

 **Anyway, have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	43. Assassin Fight

**All right, I'm back! Hello! This is J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose! You can _not_ believe how long I'be been wanting to do that. I was busy with papers speeches and other college work I didn't have any time to write, but I'm back!**

 **A lot has happened, even behind the scenes. One of the things that happened was my friend Knowledgeseeker66 made a Tv Tropes page for this story, I have a link to it on my Twitter. Speaking of social networks, I also decided to make a Tumblr account, I'm trying to set up a link to it on my bio but it isn't working. So the url is basically .com.**

 **Anyway, as I promised before, this chapter is longer than usual. How long? The story is 6419 words. A tad bit long, but two of the three versions of Van worked on this, normal and sleep deprived. Sick Van was taking a break because I'm still relatively healthy.**

 **Reviews:**

 **aidansidhe: I fixed it.**

 **KibaPT: Oh yeah she is.**

 **Tes1: There are going to be some chapters relating to the Fade in the near future.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Stuff happens.**

 **Tim46billion: *dodges pitchfork* that's kind of a theme in Dragon Age.**

 **Darkness3rick: I've already answered your question on twitter.**

 **Guest: I'm still 50 50 on whether or not I will add them. In the show they basically say the maidens are magic, but in this AU there already is magic.**

 **iamking: There will be more.**

 **Stuff happens, I'm going to do the other AN fast.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"I still do not approve of this plan," Glynda told the group as she floated alongside their horses keeping pace with their riding. "You are openly leaving yourselves vulnerable to attack. If there are assassins coming for Weiss, then they know that she is travelling with a group and will bring enough of them to deal with each of us."

"Well, we don't have any other options for searching for a lead," Weiss said to the mage. "Squall's End wasn't really that useful for finding out where the White Fang is."

"Also, they are coming for Weiss either way, we can subdue one and learn of their plans," Blake said as she quickly glanced behind them turning her ears to the forest. "From what I can tell, there is something following us, has been for a while. They are keeping their distance, but I can hear them faintly."

"So, we should stop and go after them," Yang said fully prepared to stop Bumblebee.

"That's a bad idea," Ren told her. "If what Blake said was true, the assassin is far enough away that you would not make it to them before they ran. As much as I hate to say this, the original plan is the best."

"It was the best I could come up with considering the short amount of time I had," Jaune defended himself. "If we make it somewhere with less dense forests around, then when the assassins attack we can have our human light illuminate the area-"

"I hate that name," Yang interjected causing Bumblebee to snort

"If she can burn brighter than the campfire," Jaune continued and Clovis whinnied, "then we can see the the assassins when they are hiding in the sparse trees. When we see them, we can take them out. If they have large numbers, we have court mage who they probably think is a regular one. We also have two assassins, someone with a powerful hammer, someone really fast who also has a crossbow, and even an ice mage who can disrupt the terrain surprising the assassins hopefully long enough for us to subdue them."

"Mr. Arc, while that sounds good in theory, there may still be complications," Glynda told him. "Say the assassins aren't going to wait for us to set up camp and they have an ambush already set up further down the road, we could be overtaken easily. They could all have ranged weapons and impeccable aim, we could be shot through the neck and bleed out."

"That's highly unlikely," Blake interjected. "When the White Fang sends their assassins, they prefer to do it close and upfront." She was silent for a couple seconds before she realized some of the group was looking at her. "Considering Weiss's family, they will want to assassinate her and possibly take her back with them."

"You know, I've just realized this," Yang said as she looked over to Weiss. "We've known each other for over two months, talked about our pasts a lot, but I still don't know your last name."

"It's… not that important," Weiss said as she looked away from Yang over to Ruby. "My family is very rich back in Atlas. We've gained most of our fortune and influence through merchant trade, but back in the day they gained their blood money through enslaving faunus." She looked over towards Blake who looked away from the princess. "The White Fang did not like us for that, so they wanted us dead, now more than ever."

"Blake, Ren, you both are trained like the assassins. What is the best way we can fight them?" Ruby asked changing the subject before the others asked Weiss further questions about her past.

"While some assassins are skilled in fighting, they are the most dangerous in their initial attack," Ren answered her. "If you can survive an assassin's first attack, then you have a fighting chance."

"Also, guarding one's neck is the highest priority," Blake mentioned as she rode ahead. "If we had neck armor, then we could avoid unnecessary beheading."

"I would have forged armor for the neck if you had told me," Yang groaned as she looked at the faunus. "I didn't have the time nor the energy to take measurements and forge them. There is only so much my makeshift mobile forge can do."

"It's fine, Yang," Blake said looking over to her. "Neck armor is also not that flexible, so keeping an awareness of an area is more difficult if you can't see. If we were fighting vampires, then I would say we need the armor."

"Please don't talk about those things," Jaune said with a shudder confusing the others as to why. "When I was travelling with CRDL, we had to hunt down a vampire. After several failed attempts in a search, they decided to put all the probable suspects in a building and light it on fire."

"The vampire case?" Glynda asked him as she floated forwards towards the bard. "When that team gave their report they said that the vampire fled into a building alone before they set it on fire."

"I'm sure they would say anything to make themselves sound better," Jaune told her. "I travelled with them for a long time, and probably know all of their lies."

"Is that so?" She pulled a book from a pouch on her side and flipped through several pages. "Mr. Arc, if you would answer some questions, that would be appreciated."

* * *

"-and then they only 'killed' the ursa because the blacksmith forge fell lighting everything nearby on fire," Jaune finished the story as he and everyone else finished setting up their tents.

After riding for the better part of a day, the team decided to set up their camp and prepare for nightfall. After Ruby had set up her tent, she walked over to Weiss who was seated next to the campfire, already looking worried about the impending attack. Blake had decided to sit up in a tree nearby so she could watch the area, but also so nobody could see how worried she actually was that the White Fang was coming after her. Yang spent her time working on building a fire after she had finished setting up her tent.

Nora was standing at the northern border of the camp while Ren was sitting on the ground with his eyes closed listening to the area for anything unusual. After Jaune finished setting up his tent and telling Glynda of CRDL's missions, he grabbed his sword and shield before standing watch at the South end of camp.

Glynda was probably the most busy during this time, setting up several debilitating sigils in the forest. Then she went back over to the camp creating several more sigils on the ground before telekinetically moving dirt over them.

"How are you doing," Ruby asked Weiss as she watched her cross her arms holding her sides.

"I-I'm fine," Weiss said pulling her legs closer to herself. "It's just, this is the second time the White Fang has come after me. I barely survived the first time." Blake's ear twitched slightly at that comment causing her to look down feeling more guilty.

"Well, this time you have us here," Ruby told her wrapping one arm around the princess's shoulders. "We won't let anything happen to you."

"Thank you, really," Weiss said reaching one hand up to hold Ruby's hand that was on her shoulder.

"We always manage to come out on top," Yang said then got frustrated with the campfire not starting, so she threw a fireball into the wood instantly lighting it. "We should be able to beat the assassins, after all, we have a court mage."

"Ms. Xiao Long, I am not a perfect solution to any situation," Glynda said as she waved her crop in front of her again creating sigils in a large circle around the camp before she used telekinesis to cover them with dirt. "Just like any mage, I could run out of magic, be knocked out, or even die."

"But you're the Court Mage of Beacon, aren't you supposed to be incredibly powerful?"

"I could be considered powerful, yes, but if I can't use my magic, then I am a regular woman," Glynda told her as she created several more sigils outside of the camp.

Blake suddenly jumped down from her tree and approached the group. "They're close," she said loud enough for everyone to hear. "I can't tell how many there are, but one of them is in the forest." She pointed at the forest causing everyone to turn and look.

Weiss and Ruby stood up grabbing at their weapons. Weiss took a couple steps back reaching her right hand forward to hold on to Ruby's arm as the other girl grabbed her scythe with both hands.

There was a quick sound similar to an arrow flying through the air. "Mr. Arc, remember what I said about there possibly being complications?" Glynda asked him as a couple members of the group looked to the mage. She reached up to her neck and removed a small dart with a red flight. "This is one of them." The older woman's eyes then rolled back into her head before collapsing.

Suddenly, from the forest there was a quick rustling from the bushes before a spear flew through the air at Weiss. Before the princess could dodge, the spear passed centimeters from her face and stabbed into something that let out a shout of pain. Both Ruby and Weiss turned around to see a wolf faunus laying on the ground with a spear in his chest and a fox faunus standing next to him. As the fox faunus was still confused at what just happened, Ruby quickly twisted her body before hitting him in the head with the blunt side of her scythe's shaft knocking him out.

Yang activated her magic causing her hair to illuminate the area. In the darkness, the group could make out a group of fourteen slightly armored White Fang members and one other that Blake recognized as the woman who met with her. The woman simply smirked at Blake, who was standing ahead of Weiss, so the others assumed she was smirking at the princess.

The White Fang members all drew various weapons, mainly consisting of katanas, kunai, and ninjatos before preparing to attack. The woman simply drew two shorter ninjatos in a reverse grip before getting into a battle stance. Before the assassins could move in to strike, a bronze colored shield flew from the forest striking a White Fang member's back throwing them forward. The assassin fell on his face and was fine for a second before the hidden sigil he landed on exploded instantly killing him.

The shield travelled through the air drawing everyone's attention as it bounced off the ground landing perfectly on its owner's arm. The two groups then saw a redheaded woman standing in front of them wearing leather and metal armor wielding a xiphos. "Please stop this action," the woman said as she raised her shield in front of herself while having the sword ready to attack. "I do not wish to kill you, but I will if I have to."

"Who is this?" the White Fang group's leader asked directing the question towards Blake. "Another human who foolishly agreed to help you."

"I don't know who she is," Weiss answered her causing the woman to glance over to Weiss and chuckle.

"Whose side are you on?" Jaune asked Pyrrha keeping his shield raised while looking at the White Fang members waiting for them to strike. "We are outnumbered and would appreciate any help."

"I am not on your side," Pyrrha answered him as she started to approach the two groups, "nor am I affiliated with the White Fang. I am under orders to return her," she pointed at Weiss with her sword, "to her father. If you wish to stand in my way, I will take you down."

"This shall be interesting then," the White Fang woman said then quickly nodded to the other members signalling for them to begin the attack.

* * *

Blake immediately bolted forward engaging the other group's leader causing sparks to fly as their weapons collided. The woman diverted Blake's katana to the ground with one blade before striking with the second one, but Blake drew her shortsword in time to catch the blade. She then jumped back a couple feet before throwing her shortsword at the leader. The leader had plenty of time to bend to the side slightly to avoid the sword, but when she looked at Blake she saw her bolting at her with her katana sheathed preparing a laido strike. Just as Blake drew her sword for a quick powerful strike, the leader simply moved both ninjatos to catch Blake's blade.

"Already going back to his training," the leader said quiet enough for only Blake to hear.

"Don't compare me to him," Blake growled as she pulled her kusarigama from her back stabbing it into the woman's side. "I am nothing like him."

* * *

Two of the assassins near Weiss charged at her, so the princess activated her magic shooting ice spikes from the ground nearly impaling both of them, but one using a katana cut the ice spike aimed at them to pieces before kicking the other out of the way. Ruby was about to be attacked by two assassins before she slammed the back end of Crescent Rose into the ground and jumped to give herself extra height.

As she was airborne, Ruby threw Crescent Rose at the ground having the blade stab into the ground in between the two assassins that attacked her. She then pulled out her crossbow from her back and aimed it at one of them before firing it off. The bolt flew faster than the assassin expected not giving himself enough time to dodge, so the arrow hit above his right knee before flying through and breaking his femur. The arrow then broke the sigil behind him causing it to explode having the force from the explosion knock him out.

The standing assassin Weiss was dealing with bolted forward attempting to strike at the princess. So she focused magic into her rapier before blocking the strike. When the katana hit, the magic instantly coated it with two inches of ice and throwing snow in the White Fang member's face. While he was blinded, Weiss drew back by a couple steps before quickly striking at his chest two time denting his chestplate before focusing magic into her blade and thrusting. The blade pierced through the armor stabbing in his chest slightly before there was a blue light before he jerked back before falling forward showing to Weiss a bloody ice spike sticking out from his back.

* * *

Jaune barely had enough time to brace his shield before a katana slammed into it. Then he raised his sword in order to block another assassin's ninjato. Pushing his shield forward, Jaune stumbled the katana wielder back just in time for him to slam the edge of his shield into the side of the ninjato wielder. Then Jaune braced against his shield before charging the katana wielder throwing him to the ground.

Just as Jaune stopped his charge, he tried to regain his footing only to have a katana slam into his chestplate and throw him to the ground. Looking up he saw another assassin wielding a katana standing near him with a kunai dual wielder who both started walking toward him as the other two started walking over.

"Damn, why am I the one who has to fight four?" Jaune asked himself as he tried to pick himself up. In the back of the group, Jaune watched as the ninjato wielder tensed up and gasped for air before a red and bronze colored blade emerged from his chest. "What?"

The three remaining assassins watched as their ally fell to the ground and Pyrrha was standing there preparing to attack again. The remaining assassins jumped back and held their weapons cautiously in front of themselves while Pyrrha quickly moved forward before grabbing Jaune by the back of his armor pulling him up to his feet.

"While I may not be on your side," Pyrrha said as she stood with her back facing Jaune's while they raised their shields and sword. "These assassins wish to kill the one I am tasked with protecting, so I will fight by your side, for the time being."

"We can discuss who you are and why you're here later," Jaune told her as he blocked a katana before swinging his sword at the assassin who simply dodged. "We have bigger problems right now."

"As you wish," Pyrrha said as she threw her shield at the kunai wielder hitting him in the chest before he ran at her and bouncing before colliding with the other katana wielder's chest then land on the ground. While the two of them were stunned, Pyrrha stabbed the first one through the chest, then quickly pulled the sword out to allow her to slam the pommel into the other's throat crushing their windpipe. She then stomped on the edge of her shield causing it to fly upwards allowing her to catch it. After that, Pyrrha threw the shield past Jaune colliding it into the assassin's neck killing him. "Now then, we can talk."

* * *

Ren quickly blocked a kunai with his dagger while trying to stab the assassin in front of him using the other only to have her block it using the other kunai. The faunus then jumped backwards with a backflip in order to kick Ren in the face as they flipped. Ren stumbled back as the assassin landed on the ground.

The faunus then prepared to attack Ren, but just before she stabbed him with the kunai, Nora ran up and swung her hammer down hitting the assassin's arm breaking it off at the elbow. Nora then kicked the assassin in the chest knocking them to the ground before she picked up the hammer and slammed it onto the faunus's chest.

"Thanks for the save," Ren said as he regained his footing. He then looked around to the other fights and saw two assassins approach both of them, one wielding a ninjato and the other holding two kunai. "Think you can handle another one?"

"We can handle anything, let's do this," Nora said with a smile as the assassins lunged forward.

Nora raised the hammer in time for the assassin to strike the shaft with their ninjato. Then Nora pushed the hammer's shaft with one arm in order to hit the assassin with the head of the hammer. That caused the assassin to be thrown off to the side as Nora followed through the swing to grab her hammer near the end of the shaft then raise it above her head. The assassin readied their ninjato and charged at Nora. Nora swung her hammer down, but the assassin quickly dodged to the left. The force of the hammer hitting the ground caused a small shockwave that stumbled the assassin long enough for Nora to drag the hammer across the ground and hit the assassin throwing him off into the forest at a high speed.

Ren blocked the kunai using his dagger before raising a leg and kicking the assassin in the chest. He then bolted forward slashing his dagger across the assassin's chest only to have it be blocked by the chestplate. Then with the second strike, Ren stabbed his dagger into the abdomen of the assassin. He was suddenly pushed off the assassin from a kick having him let go of the dagger. The assassin went in for another strike with his left kunai, but Ren caught the assassin's hand before pulling him off to the side causing the assassin to stumble then stabbed his remaining dagger into the assassin's side repeatedly before he fell to the ground.

* * *

Yang cautiously started circling the bear faunus who was wielding a katana waiting for Yang to pull out a weapon. She then cracked her knuckles raising her fists in front of herself before she began bouncing on her feet slightly. The bear faunus smirked for a second before stabbing his katana into the ground then he cracked his knuckles.

Yang ran forward and punched him in the chest, already denting the chestplate. Then she punched him again throwing him back slightly. With that small distance between them, the bear faunus smirked then ran at Yang.

He ran next to her before delivering a left hook catching Yang's cheek. Then he punched with his right fist aiming for her face, but only managed to hit Yang's gauntlet from a block. He then crouched down slightly before Yang could punch him and grabbed her. Picking Yang off the ground, he pivoted his body before throwing Yang into the ground. Then he raised his foot in the air before delivering a powerful stomp to her chest forcing her body into the dirt. He reached down and grabbed Yang by the chestplate before picking her up with one hand.

Yang grit her teeth as she glared at him grabbing onto his wrist. Then her eyes turned red as her gauntlet started heating up causing his skin to burn slightly. He let go of her, but Yang held on continuing to burn the faunus's arm. Then letting go with one hand, Yang cocked back her arm and punched the assassin's elbow breaking it in.

She dropped to the ground and immediately punched him in the abdomen burning a hole in his tunic. Then punching the faunus in the chestplate, Yang broke through throwing him back a couple feet. Using that extra space between them, Yang slapped her hands together igniting her fists. Then running towards him Yang punched engulfing the faunus in flames.

Turning back, Yang spotted another assassin wielding a ninjato walking towards the katana stabbed into the ground. Then drawing the sword, the assassin got into a battle stance. Yang threw the remaining fireball at that assassin only to have him dodge. Then Yang slapped her hands together creating another set of fireballs before throwing them back at the assassin. The first fireball the assassin dodged, but the second was flying directly at him, so the assassin quickly slashed through the fireball causing it to explode before hitting him.

As the flames dispersed, Yang bolted forward cocking back her fist preparing to punch the assassin. The assassin had enough time to see Yang and prepare a strike. Swinging his sword, the blade hit Yang's arm only to have it bounce off the armor. Yang's fist delivered a burning hot punch to the White Fang's member's face shattering the mask before following through throwing him into the ground.

* * *

Weiss bent backwards in order to dodge a stab from a katana. Then she stabbed her rapier into the ground creating a layer of ice causing the assassin to stumble slightly. While he slid on the ice, Weiss quickly straightened up before taking several steps back.

The assassin regained his footing before running at Weiss. She quickly stabbed her rapier into the ground creating a layer of ice before drawing the sword and swinging it in his direction in order to shoot off several ice spikes. The assassin stabbed his katana into the ground in order to keep his footing. Then while he had his footing, the assassin crouched down in order to avoid the ice spikes only to have one stab into his shoulder.

Weiss then bolted forward unfazed by the ice in order to stab him in the other shoulder as she kicked the katana out of his hands. The assassin raised his hands and gripped the blade of the rapier before wrenching the weapon from her hands. Then he punched her in the abdomen knocking Weiss to the ground as he stood up as he gripped the hilt of the rapier.

As soon as his hand touched the crystal inserted into the hilt, it was coated in a layer of ice. Then the ice started moving up his arm freezing it causing the man to panic. During his panic, he used his other hand to punch the hilt of the rapier. That caused his hand to shatter dropping the rapier to the ground.

Weiss was surprised at what happened, but she couldn't waste time. Getting up off the ground, she picked up her weapon before slamming the pommel into his head knocking out the faunus. When he fell to the ground, the rest of his frozen arm shattered.

* * *

Ruby ran forward as the assassin near her bolted forward with her ninjato at the ready. Ruby then dropped her crossbow before ducking under the strike. Then she reached up grabbing Crescent Rose before dragging the blade through the ground. After the blade came out of the ground, Ruby turned the weapon around swinging the back end of the shaft in order to hit the assassin in the head knocking her out.

After Ruby's fight finished, she looked over to Weiss and saw that she had already beaten the assassin that came after her. Looking to the others she saw they were all finishing up their fights, so Ruby ran over to where Glynda had collapsed. Checking over the older woman, Ruby found that she was still alive, just simply knocked out by the dart.

* * *

"Strange to see humans help defend you after all you've done," the leader said as she deflected Blake's attack. She watched as all the White Fang members she brought along were either killed or knocked out. Then she crouched to the ground raising both ninjatos in front of her. "Or maybe they just don't know." She jumped forward at Blake strike barely giving her any time to block. "I wonder what would happen if someone were to tell them that they've been travelling with a White Fang assassin."

"You won't live long enough to tell them," Blake growled as she swung her katana at her only to have it be blocked by the ninjatos. She then pulled the sheath off her belt in order to use the blunt object and hit her across the face. Blake then swung upwards with her katana catching one ninjato and throwing it off to the side of their fight.

The leader switched her ninjato out of a reverse grip before thrusting the blade at Blake stabbing into her palm forcing her to let go of her katana's sheath. "You know, I am surprised that the princess doesn't remember you at all from that night. After all, witnessing two people murder your mother would keep their faces in your mind," she told her as she blocked Blake's sword. Blake was about to reach for the kusarigama, but the leader kneed Blake in the abdomen causing the girl to curl over.

"I didn't murder the Queen," Blake said gritting her teeth. "I've done things, terrible things, all for the sake of my people, but killing the Queen was not one of them." She grabbed the weighted dagger end of the kusarigama with her bloody hand before pulling the chain out partway.

Bolting forward, Blake raised her dagger in order to block the ninjato strike before using her katana to cut off the leader's foot. She fell over to the side dropped the ninjato. She then kicked the leader backwards so she landed on her back. Blake then picked up the ninjato sword and stabbed the blade through her hand pinning it to the ground. Blake then threw her weighted dagger stabbing into the leader's other hand pinning it to the ground.

Blake then held her katana with both hands above the leader's neck. Just as she was about to thrust downward, she was stopped by Weiss placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Blake, stop. She has information we need," Weiss told her as the White Fang leader began to laugh. "What? What's so funny?"

"She's too dangerous to live," Blake told her as she lowered the blade.

"I think she's not that dangerous right now," Yang said as she started approaching the two. "We need that information, and the leader is more likely than those unconscious men we caught to tell us."

"You want information? Fine," the leader said with a chuckle as she threw her head back. "Don't kill my men, and I'll tell you all you need."

* * *

Yang and Jaune started moving the unconscious White Fang members over to a nearby tree before tying them to the tree. Ruby spent her time wrapping the leg wound of the assassin she shot with her crossbow. After the bleeding seemed to stop, she grabbed nearby sticks before making a makeshift splint to prevent the broken leg from moving. Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha spent their time dragging the dead bodies into the forest.

"I still don't like this," Weiss told Blake as she used healing magic on Glynda to help remove the knockout poison. "The assassins seemed too easy for coming after me. One would think the White Fang would send their best assassins to kill the royalty that escaped."

"It does seem weird," Blake said as she looked over to the leader who was kneeling in the middle of the camp with her hands tied behind her back after being wrapped by Blake's kusarigama. "I thought she would try to escape by now."

"I know, it seems like she wanted to be caught," Weiss said stopping the healing before standing up next to Blake. "If she tries anything when I'm questioning her, I want you there to stop whatever she's planning."

"Ok, but why would you want me there?" Blake asked her. "The others would be willing to protect you."

"The others will be nearby, but you aren't afraid of doing what needs to be done," Weiss said as she and Blake walked over to the leader. As they were doing that, the others started paying attention to them.

"So, I see you are keeping your end of the bargain," the leader said as Weiss removed her mask revealing green eyes with slits in them. "Was that necessary?"

"I just wanted to see the face of the assassin that failed to kill me," Weiss told her as she crossed her hands in front of herself. "So, who are the White Fang working with?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said with a smirk only causing Weiss to scowl before kicking her in the side. "Interesting, you think pain will scare me."

"Who are the White Fang working with?" Weiss asked again drawing her dagger placing the blade against her neck. "Who helped you plan the attack on the castle to kill my mother?"

"Someone seeking power, I'm not at a high enough rank to know names," she answered laughing slightly. "I'm sure you know of the order of succession that the Schnee family follows. If the king dies, all power goes to the first born child, but if the royal family dies, the kingdom goes to the next person with Schnee blood. How many relatives do you think you have? Do you ever wonder what lengths someone will go for power? Maybe they made a deal with the White Fang to eliminate your family to gain that power."

"You're saying that one of my relatives is the cause of all this?" Weiss asked her stepping back and sheathing the dagger. "Who could have done it?"

"If you want to know," she smirked looking up at Blake, "just ask her. She's a higher rank in the White Fang than me."

"What?" Weiss asked looking over to Blake.

"Don't listen to her, she's lying," Blake told Weiss. "I'm not part of the White Fang."

"You keep saying that, but you and I both know that's not true," the leader said getting Weiss's attention while Blake's cat ears flattened against her head. "Oh, kitty's getting angry. Maybe keep telling yourself that you're not part of the White Fang and you'll start believing it."

"Shut up!" Blake shouted as she kicked the woman in the chest throwing her back. She then reached to her belt and pulled out her shortsword before walking towards her.

"Oh, kitty really is mad now," the leader said as she moved to get back to her feet. "You can't escape the truth. Maybe your human friends here should know who they've been travelling with." That caused Blake to stop for a second to see the others looking at her. "Blake Belladonna is a ruthless killer, and a high ranking member of the White Fang. She's killed a whole tavern full of humans with no mercy. Over the years in the White Fang, she's killed countless humans without a second thought. But on her list of accomplishments is one special achievement-"

"Shut up!" Blake shouted as she grabbed picked up the woman by her hair and placed the sword against her throat.

"You seriously think I'm scared of death?" she asked Blake before laughing maniacally then looking at Weiss. "Blake Belladonna is the right hand woman of Adam Taurus, and was one of the assassins who murdered the Queen of Atlas."

"Shut up!" Blake growled as she started digging the knife into the woman's neck drawing some blood. "I am not part of the White Fang!"

"Blake, is she telling the truth?" Weiss asked slightly reaching to her belt for her rapier.

"No, I'm not part of the White Fang," Blake nearly shouted to Weiss defending herself.

"Then why do you have a sword to my neck?" the woman asked her. "Unless you have some reason for silencing me." She looked directly at Weiss. "Haven't you ever wondered what your friend here did before joining your group, and as to why she recognized you? She probably gave you the excuse that all faunus know who the royal family is. Pathet-"

Blake suddenly, in a fit of anger, dragged the blade across the woman's throat cutting deep. She then let go of the woman letting her fall to the ground. At this point, Blake was panting heavily, but she froze as she saw the shocked expressions of everyone at the camp.

"Blake, why would you do that?" Ruby asked her walking over to the faunus. "There was more we needed to ask her."

"Blake, I need you to be honest with me, are you part of the White Fang?" Weiss asked her, hand on the hilt of her rapier, ready to draw it.

"I'm not part of the White Fang," Blake said biting her lip before scowling and gritting her teeth. She then closed her eyes and sighed. "Not anymore."

"What do you mean 'not anymore'?" Weiss asked her pulling her rapier out from her belt. "Was what she saying true? Did you kill my mother?" She slowly started to approach Blake. Ruby was about to intervene before Yang stopped her after she saw Weiss's sword start to glow.

"I was there but I was not the one who killed your mother," Blake told her. She suddenly had to jump in order to dodge the rapier blade aimed at her head.

"You were there," Weiss said as she thrust her rapier again missing Blake by inches. "You helped kill my mother!"

"I never had a choice," Blake defended herself as she deflected the rapier. "Most faunus who join the White Fang are freed slaves in a foreign land, I was no different." She swung her shortsword at Weiss barely giving her time to block. "I have more reason than most to hate the Schnee family. When I was a child, slavers working under your family came to my village." She slammed the shortsword against the rapier causing Weiss to stumble back. "They took everyone and branded them, and if any fought back, they were killed. My mother!" She slammed the shortsword into the rapier again. "My father!" She kicked Weiss throwing her back. "They died trying to protect me." Weiss jumped backwards in order to avoid Blake's attack.

"I was taken from my home and brought to Atlas to work on a farm owned by your uncle," Blake said as she shoulder bashed Weiss knocking her to the ground. "Four years! I worked on that hellish farm for four years until the White Fang came and freed us. That was where I met Adam who led the group that freed us. He brought your uncle to all of us and saw me. He placed a blade in my hand and told me to kill him." Blake kicked the rapier out of Weiss's hand. "I was twelve at the time, but I didn't even hesitate. I didn't stop stabbing him even after he was dead. He needed to pay for taking away everyone I loved. That was the day I joined the White Fang, and I never regretted it." She kneeled over Weiss raising her sword over her head. The others around were shouting Blake's name and even started running over, but she didn't care. "That was until I was tasked with killing the Queen of Atlas and the second Princess."

She threw the shortsword off to the side causing the others to stop running over. It was at that point Weiss could see Blake was kneeling there with tears in her eyes threatening to fall. "The White Fang had changed, they were not focused on freeing slaves and cared more for killing. I didn't kill your mother, Adam did. He then went through your home killing any humans he came across. I tried talking him out of killing you, but he was hell bent. When we came into a room with a large fireplace, I had to step in between him and where you were hiding."

"Everything I've done, was for my people," Blake said as she got off Weiss and sat down on the ground. "When the White Fang killed the Queen, it painted a target on every faunus, White Fang or not. The only way to stop the senseless killing of my people is to stop Adam and the White Fang, so I thought the best way would be to join you and help your goal, but I thought you wouldn't let me travel with you if you knew the truth." She pulled the katana from her belt and threw it off to the side. "I'm not going to lie anymore, and I will accept any punishment you think I deserve."

* * *

 **Aaand we're done! The group fought assassins and we even got to hear Blake's backstory. I know in the show Blake's parents are alive, but I originally did not plan on them being in this story.**

 **Glynda was a big problem with how I was planning to have the group fight the assassins, so I decided to knock her out.**

 **Also, speaking of knocking people out, out of the 16 assassins that attacked, only 4 survived. Also, I think Ruby's kill counter is still at 0, so during this entire series Ruby has not killed a single person. Grimm and demons are much different though.**

 **Next chapter we get to see the repercussions of the others knowing Blake's past and that Weiss is a princess. I would go more in depth into this, but I have to leave soon.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	44. Blake's Punishment and Coming Clean

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of the Princess and the Rose. So, I am updating this one a little late, and that is mostly because of the reason of I do most of my writing and editing on Sunday and Sunday night, but my brother decided to kidnap me for the day to see the Logan movie. I won't spoil anything, but if you are on the edge about seeing it, do it, the movie is definitely worth seeing.**

 **So, I think I covered all of the things I needed to. Blake gets her punishment, Weiss and Ruby do a thing, the group deals with the fact Weiss is a princess, and I even covered another thing I won't spoil and set up the next chapter.**

 **Reviews:**

 **SeerKing: Oh yeah, when the bad luck deity J'vana is actively interfering with their lives, they are bound to have this happen.**

 **robyork1690: Ruby doesn't want to kill, so yeah, her having no kills does say a lot of her skill.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: I may not have done much with that, but I think I covered it well. Yeah, things are kinda sucking for Blake at the moment, no thanks to the bad luck deity. As I've said before, Ruby doesn't want to kill, so with her having no kills says a lot about her skill.**

 **iamking: Blake essentially kicked Weiss's hand that was holding the hilt forcing her to let go of her rapier. Sorry for not being clear about that.**

 **Guest: Well... she kind of does.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Weiss picked herself off the ground without saying a word. She walked over to where her rapier lay before picking the weapon up. Gripping the hilt till her knuckles turned white, Weiss approached Blake.

Blake looked up and saw Weiss standing in front of her, rapier aimed at her neck. "So, this is your judgement," Blake said as she hung her head, her cat ears drooping slightly. "So be it."

"The act of killing my mother is unforgivable," Weiss said causing the blade to tremble slightly. She paused for a second. "Though, the one who did was Adam Taurus, not Blake Belladonna." Blake froze, then looked up to see Weiss sheathe her rapier. "Stand," she commanded, Blake immediately did, still keeping her head down, "Look at me." As soon as Blake looked up at the princess, she was surprised by Weiss throwing a punch directly at her. The princess's fist caught Blake's cheek causing the assassin's face to jerk suddenly to the side. "That, was for not coming clean earlier. You and I share the same goals in taking down Adam Taurus and the White Fang, and we could always use more allies." She then grabbed Blake collar and pulled her close before speaking quiet enough for only Blake to hear, "But don't expect us to be friends." She let go of the faunus' collar revealing a layer of frost.

Blake dropped to her knees, vividly shaking as Weiss walked away from her. Weiss then looked at the others who wordlessly watched what had just happened. She looked at Ruby who was looking at her. Then Weiss simply turned and began walking down the dirt path away from camp.

"Should we go after her?" Ruby asked pointing down the path Weiss took. "It is nighttime, and grimm are more active at this time."

"Are you going to just skip over the fact that Weiss is a princess?" Yang asked her sister.

"Well…" Ruby said and trailed off, but then there was a shuffling behind her.

"I believe," Glynda said as she started picking herself off the ground, "that Ms. Schnee needs some time to herself." This seemed to draw everyone's attention, so Ruby quickly slipped away after Weiss. "Today has been a particularly trying day."

"Ok, but still, she's a princess!" Yang nearly yelled. "Seriously, did anyone here expect that? Ruby?" Yang turned to look over to her sister only so see that she had disappeared. "Where did she go?"

"She ran after the princess," Pyrrha stated as she sat down on a nearby log near the fire. "She didn't seem at all surprised that your friend was the princess."

"I don't think Ruby would've- wait," Yang said as she turned to look at Pyrrha. "Who _are_ you? You appeared out of nowhere and fought the White Fang assassins with us, and then you didn't even introduce yourself."

"I didn't mean to be rude and interrupt anyone," Pyrrha said as she stood up and gave everyone a short bow. "My name is Pyrrha Nikos, a knight from the kingdom of Mistral. I have been tasked with finding Weiss Schnee and returning her to her father in order to strengthen relations between Atlas and Mistral. I have been searching for the better part of a month before I found all of you in the town on Squall's End."

"Well, that explains why someone like you would be in Vale," Jaune said as he approached Pyrrha who was now sitting back down. "So, if you have to bring Weiss to her father, why aren't you forcefully taking her now?"

"That depends on the princess," Pyrrha told him as she pulled her sword out and began to clean the blood from the blade. That caused everyone to shiver slightly. Pyrrha saw that and held her hands in front of herself. "Sorry, sorry, that wasn't supposed to be threatening. Leaving blood on a blade for a long time can damage the weapon. I'm sorry." Jaune audibly gulped before taking a step back.

* * *

Weiss kept walking away from the camp. She didn't care where she was going, she just needed to clear her head. It was only after Weiss tripped on a rock in the path when she realized how dark it was. Focusing magic into her rapier, the blade began to glow a somewhat bright white, so she walked to the side of the path and sat down against a fallen tree before stopping the light.

"Weiss, Weiss?" she could hear someone calling out for her. Looking up she could faintly see Ruby running after her. "Weiss, where are you?" Weiss then watched as Ruby continued down the path until her foot caught the same rock she tripped on causing Ruby to fall scraping her face on the ground. "Ow." Ruby picked herself off the ground and looked around before seeing Weiss's white hair being illuminated by the moonlight. "Weiss!" She immediately ran over to the princess. "Why would you just run off? I've been worried that maybe you ran off into the forest."

"I'm fine," Weiss said as she looked away from Ruby.

"No, you're not," Ruby said as she sat down on the fallen tree next to Weiss.

"It-it's just today has been- I thought," Weiss said as she started breathing heavily pulling her knees close and wrapping her arms around herself.

Ruby saw this and quickly pulled her cloak off placing it around Weiss's shoulders. Then she sat down next to Weiss and pulled her into a hug. "It's ok, I'm here," Ruby said then felt as Weiss leaned into her placing her head against Ruby's chest.

"I'm so terrified," Weiss said as Ruby felt her trembling. "The White Fang attacking us, and then Blake. I've been travelling with the assassin who was there when my mother died. I thought I could trust her." She started breathing heavily again. "I keep seeing that man stabbing my mother every time I close my eyes. I remember everything from that night, all of it burned in my memory, even Blake's cold eyes looking at my mother when she was killed."

"I can't even begin to imagine what that was like," Ruby said resting her chin on top of Weiss's head. "You loved your mother with all your heart, and her death will always be with you. The pain will never stop hurting, but the pain will hurt less by being around those who love you. Yang, Jaune, Ren, Nora, me, even Blake, we all love you, and we all worry for you."

"I just… don't think I can go back yet," Weiss said lowering her head. Ruby could hear the soft sobbing coming from the princess.

"Take all the time you need, I will always be here," Ruby said rubbing Weiss's shoulder causing the white haired girl to stop trembling.

* * *

"So, are we just going to wait for them?" Nora asked leaning against her hammer. "They've been gone for a couple hours."

"They need time," Ren told her from his position on top of the nearby branch as he carefully cleaned his daggers. "While Weiss may be a princess, I don't believe that should change anything."

"I mean, it kind of makes sense," Jaune said sitting down on a log before taking his guitar out and began playing the instrument. "When we initially met she did not want me travelling with them, and if she wanted to keep her identity a secret, preventing a bard from making a song with her name in it would make sense."

"But still, why wouldn't she just tell us?" Yang asked turning to them.

"Because she is a princess," Blake said surprising everyone since this was the first time she had spoken since Weiss left. "When she was just Weiss, everyone treated her the same. She was just another person, but now that you know she's a princess, she thinks you will treat her differently."

"No we wouldn't," Yang said before Pyrrha coughed gaining their attention.

"Indulge me if you would?" Pyrrha asked her drawing everyone's attention. "Are you only saying that because you've already known Weiss and think that if you've met her for the first time as the princess, you would treat her the same, or that if you met a princess for the first time, you would treat her the same as anyone else?"

"Well, I mean- I," Yang answered her sputtering out her response.

"She has been treated like a princess her whole life, and while that may be well and good; but when you've been placed on a pedestal like that for so long, you become separated from everything else. It becomes impossible to form any meaningful relationships. If people know she is a princess, they will treat her as a princess, instead of treating her as Weiss," she told her before looking looking down and muttering, "I can relate."

"I guess I wouldn't treat her the same," Yang said sitting down near the campfire.

* * *

Everyone sat silently around the campfire, the only sound being the crackling of the flames. Suddenly, a log in the fire snapped in half sending embers into the air. "That's it, I'm going after them!" Yang shouted standing up.

"We're back, Yang," Ruby said as she approached the camp with Weiss. As they neared the fire, everyone noticed how Weiss was wearing Ruby's cloak with the hood up to cover her head.

"Where did you guys go? I was so worried about you," Yang said as she walked over to Ruby and placed her hand on her sister's cheek. "You're hurt. Did you guys go into the forest?"

"Yang, I'm fine," Ruby said as she backed away from her sister. "Weiss and I just travelled down the path. We didn't come across any grimm."

"And you," Yang said turning to look at Weiss who was now removing the hood. "Why would you just walk off like that? You should know that grimm are more active at night. We've all been staying up waiting for you and Ruby."

"That's the first thing you ask?" Weiss asked her somewhat surprised.

"Well, we have questions," Yang said crossing her arms in front of her chest, "but why would you walk off in the middle of the night?"

"I wasn't thinking clearly," Weiss explained to her getting a nod in response. "So, I suppose you have other questions?"

"Well, I have a couple, but a lot of them are pretty self explanatory when you think about it," Yang said as she sat back down at the fire and both Weiss and Ruby sat down across from her. "But I do have one; were you ever going to tell us about your past?"

"I was going to… eventually," Weiss said looking away from Yang. "I knew I couldn't keep it a secret forever, but I wanted to find the right time to tell all of you this. Blake knew because she… used to be part of the White Fang. The only other person who knew was Ruby."

"Ruby?" Yang asked looking over to her sister.

"When we were kidnapped by Torchwick, I thought he was after me and was going to sell Ruby to those slavers. I offered to have him bring me back to my father for a reward in return for Ruby's freedom, but he apparently wasn't after me," Weiss said clenching her fists under the cloak remembering that day.

"Wait," Jaune said as he stopped strumming. "What do you mean he wasn't after you? Was he after Ruby?"

"Well-" Weiss said, but then Ruby interrupted her.

"Yes, he was. Apparently, my eyes are special," Ruby said then paused for a second as Glynda suddenly looked up from the book she was reading. "My silver eyes somehow hold magic power that other mages can benefit from according to an ancient grimoire."

"So, are you saying that you can cast magic?" Yang asked her.

"No, that would not be the case, Ms. Xiao Long," Glynda said as she approached the group around the campfire. "I can assume that you heard this information from Qrow?" She looked over to Ruby who nodded. "Of course he would reveal secret information," she said pinching the bridge of her nose. "Well, I suppose given the circumstances it was a good idea to inform you." She looked up to the rest of the group. "Ms. Rose was born with astounding magic power stored in her eyes. While the power is there, she is unable to cast magic. The main reason why this is relevant is because a mage may be able to gain this power by consuming the silver eyes."

"Wait so that means-" Jaune said, but Glynda continued.

"They eat them." That answer caused interesting reactions across the group. Nora stopped her random bouncing, Ren nearly dropped his dagger that he was cleaning, Pyrrha simply looked surprised, Blake gasped, Jaune started dry heaving at that thought, but Yang's eyes immediately turned red and her hair ignited. Nobody noticed how Ruby winced at the comment and Weiss reached over to hold the younger girl's hand.

"What!?" Yang shouted as she stood up, her fingers igniting. "Someone wants to eat Ruby's eyes!? I'll kill them!"

"Ms. Xiao Long, please sit back down, your enemy is not here, and your sister is not in any danger right now," Glynda said shooting Yang a glare causing the brawler's eyes to return to normal and the fire subsided. "So, as I was saying, a mage would have to consume a silver eye, but there is a small possibility of success on their part. Only powerful mages could survive the excessive amounts of magic being poured into their body. There are rituals that can be done in order to increase the chance of a lesser mage's survival, but generally powerful mages are the ones who can survive the consumption of silver eyes."

At that comment, Yang started walking forward until she was standing in between Glynda and Ruby. "Don't take another step," Yang said glaring at the court mage surprising the whole group.

"Ms. Xiao Long, I understand the caution you have, but understand this," Glynda said looking at Yang lifting her off the ground. "If I wished to consume your sister's eyes, then I would have already." Setting the brawler down on the ground, Glynda sighed. "This information is not common knowledge. It is old magic that can only be found from ancient grimoires. I only know of it because I have read the grimoire that your parents' team many years ago. We only know of few people with this information, most of them our allies, but Roman Torchwick and a witch known to us as Cinder also know of this magic. Ms. Rose should be safe for the time being."

"I wouldn't exactly say that," Ruby said getting everyone's attention. "If Torchwick told the White Fang about Weiss and me, then we are going to be hunted. The White Fang is going to send more skilled assassins to attack us, and we may not be able to stop them. We need to keep moving."

"While I agree with your statement, everyone needs some rest, especially after tonight," Glynda said as she raised her crop causing a purple circle of light appeared near the camp. "All of you get some rest. I am going to summon a Spirit of Protection to watch over us."

"I am not going to argue with that," Nora said as she picked up her hammer before starting to walk towards her tent, but then she stopped and pointed at Pyrrha. "Wait, what are we going to do about her?"

"Right," Pyrrha said as she turned to look at Weiss. "I am here to-"

"Return me to my father," Weiss interrupted her finishing the redhead's statement. "I fully intend to return to my father, but the White Fang is a more imminent threat that is threatening my family. You have two options here: try to forcefully take me and risk fighting all of us, or you could help us stop the White Fang and I will return peacefully. Which option do you think is the better one?"

Pyrrha sat there for a couple moments thinking before answering. "If you wish to take down a group of assassins, then you will need all the help you can get," she smiled, "I will help you out. Also, saving the royal family will help strengthen relations between Atlas and Mistal."

"And that settles that," Weiss said then started walking towards her tent.

* * *

Shortly after, everyone went over to their tents before going inside. Glynda finished summoning the spirit that appeared similar to the one Weiss fought except this one wielded a large kite shield and longsword. Then the mage simply went over to her tent before going inside.

Ruby was the last person to go to her tent since she quickly ran to the horses and check them to see if they were attacked by the assassins. After confirming they were fine, she returned to her tent and fell asleep.

* * *

 _Ruby couldn't see anything because she felt something covering her eyes. She could feel the ground under her moving by being dragged by the hair. Trying to reach up and remove the blindfold, Ruby started to panic as she felt they were bound together behind her back and her legs were immobilized._

" _Little red, little red, nice of you to finally join us," a familiar voice said with a malicious chuckle. Then she felt as she was thrown forward landing on the dirt path. Ruby's blindfold was pulled slightly from scraping against the ground allowing her to see Roman Torchwick standing there with a smirk across his face. Walking over to her, he twirled his cane in his hands before stopping right in front of her._

 _She watched as he caught the back end of the cane before swinging it at her. She felt the impact hit her abdomen knocking the air out of her. Before she could breathe in, she felt a sharp kick hit her stopping the breathing. Torchwick then twisted the handle of his cane before drawing the blade and stabbing it into her abdomen causing Ruby to shout in pain._

* * *

With a small shout, Ruby suddenly jerked out of her bedroll. In a small panic, she lifted her shirt to look where Torchwick had stabbed her. She was relieved to see that there was no wound, so she started to calm down. "They're getting worse," Ruby said laying back down on her bedroll resting a hand on the phantom wound, "but they're just nightmares. I can't bother the others with this, they all have so much to deal with."

She looked out of her tent and saw the spirit Glynda had summoned. It was looking in her direction, seemingly focused on something behind her. Being somewhat unnerved, Ruby reached over to the tent flaps before closing them blocking her view of the spirit.

* * *

 **And there we have it. I kind of think the chapter went a little fast, so I may go back and edit it, but I did what I needed to in order to set up the next chapter's story arc.**

 **I did kind of use part of Pyrrha's speech to Jaune during this chapter to have her explain Weiss. I think it is kind of appropriate for this situation, and as much as I like Pyrrha's character from the show, this story is mainly going to focus on Weiss and Ruby.**

 **In other news, next Tuesday is this story's 1 year anniversary! *throws confetti* Damn, I need to pick all that up for the 14th. *starts picking up the colorful scraps* Anyway, for that, I will be writing a longer chapter which I will release on Tuesday. What will happen in that chapter? Well I have a feeling that it has something to do with Ruby's nightmare and the fact the Spirit of Protection was staring at her, and I am the writer...**

 **So, anyway, I am actually very tired at the moment. I think I covered all of what I needed to. If not I may go back and do the edit having Update Van do some of the talking. Actually, how many versions of Van are there? I think I have Sick Van, Sleep Deprived Van, Normal Van, and Update Van. Did I miss any?**

 **(Update Van here, told ya I'd be back. So yeah, I'm working on editing some mistakes I have in this chapter that have been pointed out to me, one of them being Ruby resting her chin on her head (if she could do that it would be disturbing, but impressive). So anyway, I am woking on the next chapter, but I will be doing some edits on this chapter over the next few days.)**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	45. Nightmares (1 Year Anniversary)

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A, and sorry about not posting this on Sunday, but I did inform all of you I was doing something special for this chapter.**

 **That's right! It's the One Year Anniversary of The Princess and the Rose! *throws confetti***

 **You would not believe how long it took to write this chapter. I know I typically post one chapter a week, but those I write in my spare time, typically starting on Wednesdays after my classes are over and I play video games for a while. I had spring break last week, so you know what that means. Yep, after playing video games for the first two days of it, starting on Monday I spend whatever free time I had to write this chapter, and I think it shows. I don't know what number you guys are going to get in the email notification, but my count is 16,853 words. Just over five and a half regular chapters if I were to go with the decent number of 3000 words in an average chapter, including the AN which I think we all know can be a bit long winded, which I think I am doing now. So instead of me doing that, I will get onto reviews so you guys can get to the story.**

 **Before I continue, I just want to give special thanks to Knowledgeseeker66 who has been helping me during the whole duration of the week when writing this chapter. I was able to come up with several ideas for this chapter and further content for this chapter and future ones with their help.**

 **(Update Van: Hello, as I said at the ending of the AN, I probably made a decent number of mistakes that I would go back and edit. So I've made a few changes, like Glynda's dialogue so she doesn't seem like she purposely made a mistake, but I also changed the ending scene a little bit so it doesn't seem so forced.)**

 **Reviews:**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: *throws more confetti* Yes, Weiss and Blake do still have a lot to work with between them, but this chapter doesn't really have that much to do with them, sorry. Ruby and Weiss... you'll see. I may allude to some Arkos, or even make some in future chapters, but not at this time. Who's to say Renora isn't already a thing? (Well, I would, sorry, but they aren't... yet)**

 **MABfan11 (from chapter 10): Well, I'm going to bring in more lore from the series, which I'm sure you've read some by the time this chapter gets posted, and especially by the time you get to this chapter. I don't know if I will be killing off Ozpin so he could possess Oscar, but maybe by the time I think about doing that the next season will be out.**

 **iamking: Pyrrha not realizing stuff is going to be pretty fun, and thank you. Hopefully you see this on the day it gets posted.**

 **Darkness3rick: Ruby and her morals bing tested will be an interesting thing in future chapters. Knowledgeseeker66 and I were actually discussing this when I was writing this chapter. Hopefully Ruby won't have to kill anyone, but like you said, only time will tell.**

 **Nemasis Demarini: Originally I thought I would be witty and say that Cruel Van and Sleep Deprived Van are one and the same, but then I decided to write out Ruby's whole nightmare and... well, there is definitely a Cruel Van.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

Ruby let out a yawn as she started taking down her tent. She didn't get much sleep after she woke from her nightmare. It also didn't help that she could still feel the eyes of that spirit staring at her despite her tent being closed. After her tent was finished being taken down and bundled together, she made her way to the horses by herself.

"Hello Chestnut," Ruby greeted as she pet her horse's mane while placing her tent in the saddlebags. "Did you have a good night's sleep?" The horse simply snorted and did a small nod. "Well, that's good because we're probably going to be riding for most of the day."

She then heard sounds of movement behind her causing Ruby to turn and see Weiss approaching the horses carrying her tent and a red bundle. "Good morning," Weiss greeted her as she put her tent in Snowflake's saddlebag. She then walked over to Ruby with the red bundle before holding it in front of the redhead. "I'm sorry, I forgot to return this last night."

Ruby then took the bundle and unfolded it revealing her cloak. "That's alright, you kind of needed it more than me at that time," she said as she pulled the cloak across her shoulders.

"It's just, I wanted to thank you," Weiss said as she tilted her head downward slightly. "You've been helping me out since we first met, and I've never properly thanked you."

"You've actually done it a couple of times," Ruby chuckled as she was about to turn away.

Weiss then walked forward and gave Ruby a tight hug. "Not properly. You've been there for me so many times, even coming after me in the middle of the night and staying with me through everything," she said as Ruby wrapped her arms around the princess returning the hug. "You've been the greatest friend I've ever had, and I just wanted to tell you that."

Before Ruby could respond, they both heard sounds of the others approaching the horses. They both simultaneously let go of each other and turned around before they could even think of as to why they did. Weiss could feel her heart pounding furiously in her chest, meanwhile Ruby's cheeks turned a shade of scarlet.

"Ah, there you are," Yang said as she saw the two. "We were wondering where you guys ran off to."

"Where would we run to?" Ruby asked her. "We don't exactly have a destination we are headed."

"Actually, we do," Blake said getting the attention of the two girls, but she was actively avoiding Weiss's gaze. "Last night, before I went to sleep I decided to spy on the assassins we tied to the tree. While they were freeing themselves, they spoke about heading north and taking a ship to camp. One of them must've heard me, because they suddenly stopped talking before running away as fast as they could with the one with a broken leg."

"So, we're heading north then?" Weiss asked as the others began mounting their horses. "Do we have any particular destination."

"My guess would be one of the port towns," Jaune said as he seated himself in the saddle. "If the White Fang is going to be anywhere, they won't be primarily based in Vale. While the terrain is useful and there are plenty of forests to hide in, it doesn't quite make sense for them to based there. If they really are after the king, but don't want to be in the mainland of the Atlesian kingdom, then they would be on the other continent in Atlas. It has plenty of hidden defendable points, most using the mountains of the region."

"Also, they would be stationed near Fort Mantle," Pyrrha said getting on her horse. "If they really wanted to kill the king, then they would need to be as prepared as they possibly could be to attack the defensive mountain fortress. So having all your forces meet up and prepare your attack is a good plan."

"Then there we have it, we're going to Atlas!" Nora exclaimed as she jumped onto Honeybunch causing the horse to rear up ready to ride.

"Nora, the rest of us still need to get on our horses," Ren said as he mounted Lotus.

"Oh, right," Nora said with a chuckle as the others finished mounting their horses.

"What about her?" Pyrrha asked everyone gesturing towards Glynda. "I know she is capable of flying, but that must take a considerable amount of magic. Also any onlookers may be confused as to why we are travelling with a flying person."

"Uhh, well, Miss Goodwitch, she-" Jaune began before Glynda cut him off.

"Ms. Nikos, I am grateful for your concern over my magic usage, though you should understand, I could potentially fly from here all the way back to my tower at Fort Beacon and not be fatigued," Glynda explained to her and raised her hand to just under her chin. "I do however see your point in having me not travel with you like that." She then put her thumb and index finger in her mouth before making a loud whistle that echoed across the open area to the left of the path and down the trail.

"Gah! What was the purpose of that!?" Yang nearly shouted as she removed her hands from her ears.

Glynda held her finger in the air for a moment before from down the trail a horse neighing could be heard. "That," she said lowering her hand. Moments later a silvery-grey horse with a black mane rode up to the mage.

"So, you can use magic to summon animals now?" Yang asked her as the older mage floated up to sit on the horse.

"That was not magic, Ms. Xiao Long," Glynda told her as she clicked her cheek signalling for the horse to move. "I did have a life before becoming a court mage. One of the things I was talented at was taming wild horses. Come on, we have plenty of ground to cover." She then lightly kicked the horse's side signalling for it to gallop faster.

* * *

Ruby was exhausted. She normally didn't feel like this, especially when horseback riding, but the lack of sleep was beginning to affect her. She had been having that dream for the past few days, but each time she woke, she would instantly dismiss the dream as a nightmare and go back to sleep. Last night had been different somehow. Last night when she woke, she could still feel all the pain from her nightmare.

As her head slowly started to droop down, Ruby instantly caught herself and suddenly jerked her head back up. It was at that point she realized Chestnut had purposely ran slower so Ruby would be near the back of the group of nine. If Chestnut had been travelling as fast as she normally would, Ruby would've fallen off shortly after beginning to doze off.

"Good horse," Ruby said as she patted the horse's neck earning a neigh in response. She then yawned again before slightly tilting her head forward again. She suddenly jerked her head back up and looked around to see Glynda riding next to her.

"Ms. Rose, are you alright?" she asked the redhead slowing down her horse to the same pace as Chestnut. "If you don't pay much attention you may fall off your horse."

"I'm fine. I just didn't get much sleep last night," Ruby said waving off the mage's question. She paused for a moment before continuing. "Actually, that spirit you summoned was staring at me the whole night, and it was kind of unnerving. Does it normally do that?"

"Normally, no," she answered her. "A Spirit of Protection generally stays vigilant in searching for potential threats. Though, I don't know everything about spirits. There could have been no threats in the area, and the spirit was drawn to your movement. Other than that, I don't know why it would stare at you during the night."

"Well, I'm not a threat, so maybe it was just drawn towards movement," Ruby said with a sigh of relief.

"Though, maybe you should be concerned Ms. Rose, spirits are highly intelligent beings. So there is the possibility the spirit sensed a great need to protect you," Glynda said as she started having her horse gallop slightly faster. "Just keep that in mind."

"I will," Ruby said with a yawn as she started leaning against Chestnut's neck.

* * *

 _Ruby felt something covering her eyes. She could feel the ground under her moving by being dragged by the hair. Trying to reach up and remove the blindfold, Ruby started to panic as she felt they were bound together behind her back and her legs were immobilized._

" _Little red, little red, nice of you to finally join us," a familiar voice said with a malicious chuckle. Then she felt as she was thrown forward landing on the dirt path. Ruby's blindfold was pulled slightly from scraping against the ground allowing her to see Roman Torchwick standing there with a smirk across his face. Walking over to her, he twirled his cane in his hands before stopping right in front of her._

 _She watched as he caught the back end of the cane before swinging it at her. She felt the impact hit her abdomen knocking the air out of her. Before she could breathe in, she felt a sharp kick hit her stopping the breathing. Torchwick then twisted the handle of his cane before drawing the blade and stabbing it into her abdomen causing Ruby to shout in pain._

" _Now that was not what I wanted to happen," he said removing the blade showing Ruby the weapon covered in her own blood. "Well, that actually would be a lie. Come on, we can't have you dying just yet."_

 _He picked up Ruby by her hair again and began dragging her down the dirt path. She could feel the warm blood flowing out of her wound. When she looked at the path they had taken she could also see a long trail of blood leading off into the darkness. She eventually became lightheaded before passing out._

 _Waking up, Ruby felt that her back was against a large stone table. Struggling to move her hands, Ruby came to the realization that they were now tied to the top corners of the table, as were her legs which were tied to the bottom of the table. Wriggling her body in a futile attempt at escaping, Ruby could feel a wetness against her back, but she didn't need to look to know that it was her own blood._

" _There's no use in struggling," Torchwick said as he neared Ruby. She turned her head to look at him and saw that there was a silhouette of a woman standing behind Torchwick looking directly at the younger girl. Ruby tried to struggle again in an attempt to escape only for Torchwick to pull out his blade and stab her in the abdomen again forcing Ruby to scream in pain. "I told you there was no use in struggling." The silhouette walked over to Torchwick and rested her hand against his shoulder causing him to remove the blade from Ruby. The silhouette whispered something in his ear causing Torchwick to sigh. "I know you're hungry, but this little brat deserves every bit of her punishment." Another whisper causing him to groan in frustration. "Fine, you want her eye, I'll get you her damn eye."_

 _Ruby immediately started to panic, struggling against the bindings and shouting at him to stop. That only seemed to make Torchwick smile even more. "No, no, nonono," Ruby pleaded as she continued to cringe from the flaring pain from her wound. He walked over to the head of the table, blade in hand as he covered Ruby's mouth with his free hand before slamming her head into the table. Torchwick then raised the blood soaked blade above Ruby's left eye letting a single drop of blood to fall from the tip hitting her eye causing half her vision to go red._

 _The blade then went down, and Ruby at first felt an uncomfortable pressure being applied to her eye, but then she felt a stabbing pain on the sides of her eye. She immediately started shouted in pain, only to have it be muffled by Torchwick's hand. Her whole body started writhing in pain, but Torchwick simply pressed down harder on Ruby's head keeping it perfectly still. For a couple seconds, Ruby could see the thin blade being pushed further and further down while her own blood started rising covering her eye._

 _Then there was nothing but darkness and the muffled sounds of her screams. Her vision returned after a couple moments, but Ruby saw that she could only see through her right eye._

 _Torchwick's hand was suddenly removed from her head allowing Ruby to immediately shout in pain. After a couple seconds of her shouting, Torchwick quickly reached down with his hand to close her mouth. Ruby could immediately feel that his hand was wet and when she looked down with her good eye only to see a blood soaked hand covering her mouth._

" _Jeez, little red, it can't be that painful," Roman told her as Ruby continued writhing and shouting in pain. Torchwick simply sighed as he raised his thin blade into the air before forcefully impaling the weapon into Ruby's abdomen. She then felt as he kept pushing the blade all the way to the hilt. It pierced through her whole abdomen out of her back, then it stabbed into the table pinning her to the table. "How many times do I have to tell you struggling won't help?" With his free hand, Torchwick reached over to past Ruby's head to pick up something. He then pulled his arm back and Ruby could see her silver eye, perfectly intact having bits of muscle hanging off the sides. "Dinnertime."_

 _He then handed the eye over Ruby's head to the silhouette woman's hand having several droplets of blood fall onto her face during the exchange. Ruby then saw as the woman form a giant glowing smile as she raised the eye to her mouth and proceeded to eat it. Ruby cringed as she listened to the sounds of chewing, then a very audible gulp caused Ruby to look away. When she looked back, Ruby could now only see a blood stained smile completely directed at her._

" _Are you still hungry?" Torchwick asked her somewhat annoyed. "Fine, I'll get you seconds. Though, my weapon is currently in use at the moment. I think I can work around this." Ruby then watched as Torchwick reached over with his free hand directly at Ruby's eye. Then she could feel the pressure again as she felt his fingers push into her eye. Suddenly, Torchwick's fingers shot forward causing Ruby to scream loudly despite her mouth being covered. Then she felt as his hand suddenly pulled back tearing through the muscles in her eye socket as blood spurted out landing on her face._

 _Everything was black. All Ruby could do was feel the pain coming from all over her body. She could hear her shouting in pain, but what seemed even louder was the sound of chewing for a long time before a sickening gulp._

* * *

"Hey Weiss, can I talk to you for a second?" Yang asked the princess as she rode forward matching her pace.

"Ok, sure," Weiss said raising an eyebrow at the brawler. "What is this about? More questions about royal life? I think Ren has been doing everything he can to stop Nora from asking me a million questions."

"No, no, nothing like that," Yang said waving her off. "I just wanted to thank you."

"Thank me?" she asked looking closely at her. "Yang, are you feeling alright?"

"I'm being serious," Yang said lowering her head a little. "It's just, I didn't know all the details during the time you were kidnapped. You bargained your own freedom for Ruby's own when you thought Torchwick was after you so that Ruby wasn't told off as a slave."

"The deal wasn't me selling my own freedom, it was for me to be brought back to my father at the palace instead of being sold as a slave," Weiss said looking away. "In the end it didn't even mean anything."

"You're wrong," Yang said causing Weiss to look back. "You were doing everything you could to protect Ruby. I just wanted to thank you for being there and protecting her when I'm not around."

"Well… you're welcome," Weiss said looking back to Ruby seeing her sleeping against Chestnut's neck. "I would do anything to protect her."

"That's reassuring," Yang said breathing a sigh of relief as Weiss signaled for Snowflake to slow down.

After slowing down enough, Snowflake kept at Chestnut's pace. Weiss leaned in and brushed Ruby's bangs out of her eyes expecting to see the younger girl's peaceful sleeping face. It was at that moment she saw Ruby's cringing expression. Looking over her, Weiss saw that Ruby was curled over slightly with one hand pressing against her abdomen.

"Ruby, Ruby, wake up," Weiss said concerned as she shook the girl's shoulder.

Ruby's eyes immediately shot open. "Gah!" she screamed as she suddenly shot up grabbing at her eyes. Continuing to yell, Ruby swung her arm out wildly managing to not hit Weiss, but knocked herself off balance. As Ruby fell to her side, Weiss immediately reached out trying to catch her. Her hand caught Ruby's arm, but only managed to be dragged off her own horse.

Both girls crashed into the ground and immediately started rolling. Ruby was still panicking, so she was continuing to swing wildly with her one arm while using her other to cover her eyes. Weiss reached out with her right arm when they bounced during the roll to grab Ruby's arm and pull it in. When she did that, both girls landed on Weiss's arm that was still outstretched slightly causing Weiss to feel a snap and sharp pain in her arm as she pulled Ruby into a tight hug. They both continued to roll for some time until the momentum from falling off their horses wore off.

"Ruby, Ruby! Calm down," Weiss said as she kept Ruby in the tight hug. Ruby was still writhing trying to get out of Weiss's grip, to no avail. "Ruby, please, calm down. I'm here."

After several moments of Ruby struggling against Weiss's grip before she started to breathe normally. Shortly after, Ruby stopped struggling to get out of Weiss's hug, but the older girl could feel Ruby's heart beating furiously and could see the sweat beading up on her forehead.

Ruby then moved her hand away from her eyes, and Weiss could see tears falling down Ruby's cheeks. "Weiss?" Ruby asked as she blinked several times. She then reached over and Weiss a quick hug trembling as she did.

"Are you guys alright?" Jaune nearly shouted as he and the others quickly turned around and were now approaching the two.

"What happened?" Yang asked as she jumped off her horse and ran over to the two.

"It would seem that Ms. Rose had an extreme reaction to a nightmare," Glynda said as she got off her horse.

"Ruby?" Yang asked as she placed her hand on her sister's shoulder.

"It- it was so real," Ruby sputtered out as she held on tighter to Weiss. "My eyes, he cut out my eyes, a-a-and he stabbed me, over, and over, and over."

"It's fine," Yang said giving her sister a tight hug. "It's ok, it was just a nightmare, and it's over."

Shortly after Ruby let go of Weiss and picked herself up. Weiss then stood up off the ground and immediately grabbed at her forearm which was already bent in a wrong direction. Quickly turning away, Weiss hid her broken arm from Ruby when she looked over. Cringing, Weiss started to push it back to its normal position while pouring healing magic into the injury.

"I think we should probably stop here for the day," Jaune said after looking at Weiss and the sisters getting a couple nods in response. He and the rest then dismounted their horses. "Pyrrha, can you help me tie the horses up? Nora, I'm going to need you to grab everyone's tents and begin setting them up. Ren, check up on Weiss and Ruby to see if you can heal their wounds with your chi. Blake, check the area and then help Nora with the tents."

* * *

A while after things had calmed down, Ruby went off into her tent to be alone. Blake had taken a perch inside a nearby tree. Ren had finished checking up on Weiss, so he was tending to the fire. Nora had finished setting up the tents, so she was now seated next to Jaune and Pyrrha around the fire. Glynda had initially checked up on Ruby, but then she went over to where Weiss was and made sure that she had fixed her arm before floating over to the fire.

"Weiss, come here," Yang said as she pulled Weiss away from the fire and behind the tents. "I need you to tell me exactly what happened with Ruby on the trail."

"Well, I just went to check on her because she was sleeping on Chestnut's neck. I woke her up, she started screaming and fell off her horse. I reached out to grab her and got pulled with. Then I tried everything I could to calm her down, but I ended up breaking my arm," Weiss said holding her forearm. "Does Ruby normally react to nightmares like this?"

"No," Yang said then thought for a second, "Well, not anymore."

"What, this has happened before?" Weiss asked her.

"Not to the extent of falling off her horse while in the middle of riding," Yang explained. "When we were a lot younger there was… an incident, that involved Ruby and afterwards she had nightmares several times a month, but she eventually grew out of it."

"Did it have anything to do with her mother? I know that something happened."

"No, no, this happened after Summer disappeared," Yang said with a sigh as she leaned against a nearby boulder. "One night, Ruby was taken out of her bed in our home on Patch. My dad and I were woken up by the sounds of Ruby screaming and knocking things over in her room, but we couldn't get there in time before her kidnapper jumped out the window running off into the forest. We started searching and even got help from Qrow and some neighbors to look, but then a couple hours later Ruby was back at the house crying in a corner with her hands covered in blood. Ruby refused to talk about what happened, and we were just thankful she was back, so we never pushed Ruby to talk about it. Then I think over the years she started to repress that memory. In retrospect, we probably should have urged her to talk about it."

"So, maybe after Ruby and I got kidnapped, Ruby started remembering her trauma," Weiss suggested, "and maybe she has been having nightmares for a couple days, but they may have been building up till now."

"It would make some sense," Yang said resting her hand on her chin. "If Ruby is remembering what happened, then maybe we should keep an eye on her, just in case."

"I'll keep the first watch then," Weiss said turning away from Yang only to have her reach up and grab her arm.

"Actually, I'll take the first watch. You took a pretty bad hit today, so you should probably rest for a while," Yang told her as she started walking towards Ruby's tent. "You can take next watch."

"Alright then," Weiss said somewhat confused as she watched Yang enter Ruby's tent. Weiss then let out a slight yawn. "I think I'll head over to the fire and rest up."

* * *

"Nora, for the last time, sloths would not survive the climate in Atlas, so we would not have one at the palace," Weiss said as she rubbed her temples in annoyance at her headache. "Also, my father did not want us to have pets. The only animals we could have considered to of had would be the horses or the attack dogs who will attack anyone they get close to."

"Ok, next question, since you are the princess, could you ask the cooks in your house to make pancakes whenever you wanted?" Nora asked her, relatively excited.

Weiss groaned. "Yes, technically I could ask the cooks to make me any kind of food whenever I wanted," she said resting her head in one hand. "However, I would not normally do that since we have meals three times a day which allowed me to avoid hunger."

"Ok, next quest-"

"Weiss, it's your turn to watch Ruby," Yang announced as she walked over to the fire.

"Finally!" Weiss exclaimed as she immediately got off her spot and walked over to Ruby's tent.

"She seemed rather happy for leaving the fire," Yang said as she sat down and held her hands in front of the fire to warm them up.

"Nora had been asking her non-stop questions for the last couple hours about her life as a princess," Ren told her and hit ripped off a chunk of dried meat before eating it. "At around the second hour, Weiss seemed rather annoyed."

* * *

Weiss silently entered Ruby's tent and sat down next to the sleeping girl. Weiss could see that Ruby's face was generally peaceful except for every once in awhile her face may cringe. Though, when she would cringe or writhe for a second, she would almost go back to normal immediately.

Weiss simply sat there for what felt like hours to the point where she even felt tired, though she did use a lot of magic in order to heal her broken arm. After catching herself nearly falling asleep several times, Weiss decided it was time for her to finish her watch.

Weiss brushed the bangs out of Ruby's face just in time for her to see that Ruby was breathing heavily and cringing from what she assumed was a nightmare. Leaning down, Weiss kissed Ruby's forehead then reached down to hold Ruby's hand. Despite being unconscious, Ruby did have a firm grip, but Weiss beared with it for what seemed like a long time before Ruby's grip loosened and she began breathing normally.

After making sure Ruby was fine, Weiss left the tent. As soon as she left the tent, Weiss immediately crashed into a large knight in purple armor she could automatically assume was a spirit Glynda had summoned. When she looked up, Weiss saw that the spirit was looking directly at Ruby's tent, hand on sword.

"What is going on?" Weiss asked looking around to see Glynda, Yang, and Jaune discussing the spirit. "Guys?"

"That is what we're trying to figure out, Ms. Schnee," Glynda said looking at Weiss. "I've tried communicating to this spirit, but all it says is, 'threat.'"

"Which doesn't make any sense," Yang said then gestured towards Ruby's tent. "Ruby's definitely not a threat, especially now. She's asleep and can't do anything."

"Which is why I think it's not that Ruby is the threat," Jaune voiced his opinion. "Maybe the spirit is sensing that Ruby's nightmares are becoming a threat to herself. You saw what happened on the road."

"This is a Spirit of Protection, it generally searches for imminent physical threats," Glynda told them looking at the spirit. "Ms. Rose also told me that last night the spirit was staring at her for the entire night. So this has happened before."

"So then why is it calling Ruby a threat?" Weiss asked. "Ruby is not a physical threat, and if it doesn't sense future threats, then why is it concerned with Ruby who is not in the best condition?"

"I do not completely understand, Ms. Schnee, but if the spirit is concerned, then someone should stay awake and accompany it for the overnight watch," Glynda said adjusting her glasses. "I will take the first watch."

"I'm not going to argue with that," Yang said as she yawned. "Just keep an eye on that spirit. If it decides to take out the 'threat,' then you need to stop it."

"Ms. Xiao Long, though I highly doubt a Spirit of Protection will attack one of the people it is in charge of protecting, if it endangers your sister, I will eliminate it," Glynda told her. "Now then, all of you get some sleep, if Ms. Rose is in a better condition in the morning, we can travel for the whole day to make up for lost time."

* * *

It had been several hours after everyone went to sleep. Despite being awake for most of the day, Glynda was not tired at all due to using her own magic to keep herself from getting fatigued by casting a rejuvenation spell on herself.

After floating around the area to observe for any threats outside of the camp, she floated back to the camp fire. Looking back at the spirit, she saw it still had not moved from its spot several hours ago. She then took out a grimoire from her pack and her blank book before translating the ancient text.

She translated the text for a while, not noticing how much time had passed. Just before she moved onto the next page, Glynda suddenly heard what something crash into the ground. She closed both books before setting them down and stood up.

Readying her crop, Glynda cautiously walked towards the source of the noise. As she walked past one tent, she then noticed that the Spirit of Protection was laying on the ground missing its head and large longsword. Just before she could react, the spirit's head was suddenly thrown from the shadows directly at her, so she hit the helmet with the riding crop causing it to immediately stop mid-air.

Then from behind her, Glynda heard the sounds of footsteps approach her. Before she could turn and see who it was, the person jumped in the air. Raising her crop in defense while creating a barrier, a large purple sword collided with the barrier causing a small shockwave to nearly blow down nearby tents.

Glynda looked up to see who was wielding the sword only to see a silhouette from the fire being behind them, but she could see unnaturally glowing red eyes. Breaking the barrier, Glynda created a telekinetic pulse that knocked the person back as well as blow down the tents in order to wake up their occupants.

The person was thrown directly through the fire and into Jaune's tent ripping it out of the ground. Jaune was thrown from the tent as the person cut through the tent using the purple sword cutting the top of the tent off and continuing through being thrown.

"What's going on?" Yang asked as she got out of her tent pulling her gauntlets on.

"We're being attacked," Glynda told them as everyone finished coming out of their tents carrying their weapons, but none were wearing their armor due to just waking up. "This person took out the Spirit of Protection with its own sword."

"What could do that?" Jaune asked as he jumped away from the person and towards Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren.

"Nothing natural," Glynda answered him as the attacker who flew through Jaune's tent started to move from under the bundle.

The bundle that used to be Jaune's tent was suddenly cut into pieces from the inside using the large purple sword. As the pieces fell to the ground, everyone could see Ruby standing there with glowing red eyes and a death glare focused on Glynda.

"Ruby?" Weiss asked tilting her head off to the side slightly, lowering her rapier.

"That's not Ruby, she's been possessed by a demon," Glynda told them.

"I had meant to kill the summoner," Ruby said with a deeper voice than she normally had. "Though, if I have to, I will kill the rest of you."

"What kind of demon are you?" Glynda asked her walking towards Ruby.

"You're one who spends a lot of time in the Fade, figure it out," Ruby said then looked down at herself. "This one was practically screaming out to me in the Fade."

"Ruby has been having nightmares for the past several days," Weiss said thinking for a couple seconds. "It's a Demon of Fear."

"Congratulations, you pieced together probably the easiest puzzle anyone could think of," Ruby said doing a mocking slow clap, still with the spirit sword in her hand.

"How do we get the demon out of her?" Yang asked Glynda.

"There is nothing we can do at the moment," she said reaching to her belt, she pulled a simple small metal hilt from her belt. "All of you, don't interfere in this. I will try my hardest not to harm Ms. Rose."

Flying forward, she swung the crop at Ruby, only to have the younger girl raise the sword and block. Glynda then focused magic into the metal hilt causing a purple glowing broadsword blade to extend from the hilt. She then swung an uppercut with the sword catching the spirit sword cutting straight through the blade.

The top portion of the spirit sword disappeared before it hit the ground surprising the possessed Ruby. She then swung the remaining portion of her sword at Glynda, only to have her catch the sword with her own. Glynda then swung her crop hitting Ruby's side. As soon as the crop hit her, there was a powerful telekinetic blast throwing Ruby off to the side having her crash into a boulder forcing her to let go of the spirit sword causing it to disappear.

Glynda then immediately flew at Ruby and placed the end of her riding crop on Ruby's forehead. Then, from the tip of the crop, a bright purple light appeared. The light then grew encasing the area before disappearing. When everyone could see again, they saw Glynda standing over an unconscious Ruby.

"I thought you said you weren't going to harm her?" Yang asked running over to Ruby's side.

"She is fine, the most damage she took from that was from hitting the boulder," Glynda said as she telekinetically picked Ruby up before placing her on her back on the ground. "All the magic I did was to counteract the spirit blade and incapacitate the demon for a period of time."

"How do we stop the demon possessing her," Weiss asked walking over to Yang and Glynda.

"Normally, we would bring her to the church and have them perform a purging ritual, but we do not have the time, nor are we close to any place with skilled clergy," Glynda said as she used her telekinesis to pull her bag over to herself. She then reached into her bag for a second before reaching all the way down to her shoulder then pulled out two green glowing potions. "We are going to need to purge the demon ourselves from the other side."

"Wait, from the other side, you mean the Fade?" Blake asked approaching the mages.

"Yes, the Fade," Glynda said then looked at Weiss and Yang. "You two will need to enter the Fade and defeat the demon possessing Ms. Rose."

"So we just need to sleep?" Yang asked her somewhat skeptical.

"If you wished to enter the Fade normally, yes, but what we're doing requires a bit more effort," Glynda told them as she handed Weiss and Yang each a potion. She then reached into her pack and drew a glowing red potion. "After you drink those you will enter the raw Fade, an area much different than the dreams you would normally enter. This potion," she held up the red one, "needs to be drank by the one possessed so you can enter the demon's domain." She knelt over Ruby while opening the bottle, then fed Ruby the potion. "I will need to stay awake to watch over your bodies and perform the ritual. You two will have to find Ms. Rose and defeat the demon controlling her. If the two of you work together, you should be able to defeat it. Are you prepared?"

"For Ruby, always," Yang said as she uncorked the bottle and drank the potion. Moments later Yang's eyes rolled back before she collapsed on the ground. Weiss gulped before uncorking the bottle in her hand.

"Ms. Schnee, wait," Glynda said to her causing Weiss to stop raising the bottle to her mouth. "In the Fade you will not have your weapons or your armor, only your magic." She reached to her belt and pulled the metal hilt from her belt before handing it to Weiss. "This kind of artifact is one of the magical items I know of that can be taken into the Fade. If you focus your magic into it you can create a sword that you can use to defend yourself. Ms. Xiao Long has no use for swords, so you would be the best fit for this weapon."

"Thank you," Weiss said holding the hilt before laying on the ground. She then drank the liquid and moments later passed out.

"What should we do?" Pyrrha asked.

"Nothing right now," Glynda said as she raised her riding crop over the three unconscious girls. "Should they get this task done swiftly, I won't require help from any of you." From each of the girls, a beam of light came out from each of their foreheads before they curved and connected.

"What if they don't beat the demon fast enough?" Jaune asked her.

"This ritual requires a lot of focus, even for me," Glynda said closing her eyes and focusing on the connecting lights. "I would appreciate all of you to be silent for a period of time."

* * *

Weiss woke suddenly and started looking around. She was laying down on on a sheet of rock surrounded by sand in a cave. In the area there was a faint green mist hanging in the air. There seemed to be a low wall of black rocks to her right and past them there was a dull green sky along with floating rocks in the distance.

Standing up, Weiss saw what could only be described as the floating upper half of a person made completely out of green light that was emitting mist. The person looked at Weiss for a second before simply floating off to the side and phasing through the wall on the left. She looked to her hand and saw the magic artifact Glynda had given her, so she placed it on her belt.

"Yang, are you here!?" Weiss called out for her starting to walk towards the cave tunnel.

"Weiss!" she heard Yang shout faintly in the distance behind her. "Where are you!?"

"I'm in some cave!" Weiss shouted as she walked towards the small wall of rocks and looked out.

"I'm at what seems like a temple!" she could hear Yang shout from below. Looking down she saw the top of Yang standing near a set of stairs on a large floating rock directly above her. "Where are you!?"

"Look up!" Weiss shouted causing Yang to tilt her head to look directly at Weiss. "I don't think up and down are the same everywhere! We need to group up!"

"No, we don't have time!" Yang shouted back up. "We can cover more ground separately! I'll search for Ruby down here, you search up there!"

"Alright, be careful!" Weiss shouted back before she turned and started making her way out of the cave.

* * *

"Don't worry Ruby, we're coming for you," Yang said as she turned around and started walking up the stairs behind her. Looking around, Yang noticed the tall walls of black rocks on the sides of thee staircase. Now running up the stairs, Yang stopped suddenly when she reached the top of the staircase to a large open cathedral with a destroyed ceiling. Inside the cathedral were seven hulking monsters and surrounding each them were several green floating torsos that appeared to be emitting a green mist. At the end of the cathedral stood a single demon that Yang instantly recognized as a fear demon since it appeared similarly to the one the group had fought in the dungeon. Yang took a single step forward and all the spirits looked directly at her.

The green spirits suddenly turned red and raised their arms before growing claws and hissing. The larger monsters each let out roars while lightning started sparking over their bodies. The Fear demon raised both its hands and each of the spider legs in the air while looking up. It then looked directly at Yang sending a shiver down her spine.

"Ok, so that's how it's going to be," Yang said then cracked her knuckles. At that moment, Yang noticed that she was not wearing her gauntlets, nor any of her other armor. "Oh shit," she cursed as several of the wraiths started floating towards Yang. She then remembered something Glynda had said a few days beforehand. ' _Barrier magic,'_ she thought, ' _She said that it was a kind of magic most mages can learn. I use magic to increase my strength by having it go through my body, so using it as a barrier over myself won't be that difficult.'_

As the demons neared Yang, she tried focusing her magic over her body. A wraith swung its arm at her from a distance causing a green bolt of magic to shoot at her. The bolt traveled through the air and struck Yang hitting her shoulder. Ignoring the flaring pain in her shoulder, Yang started focusing again. Looking at her arms, Yang saw some yellow light form over her body as a barrier formed.

Slapping her hands together, Yang ignited her fists before running forward. She then punched the nearest Wraith causing it to be consumed by the fire for a second before it suddenly exploded. She then punched the next wraith causing the same thing to happen.

Her fists didn't have any fire on them, but she punched the next nearest wraith. Yang's fist hit the wraith in the jaw breaking it off into mist. She then swung again hitting it in the neck breaking through causing the wraith to explode into mist. Pivoting her body, she thrusted her fist forward punching into the head of another wraith causing it to explode into mist.

Turning, she punched the nearest enemy only to have her fist hit the tough body of the hulking demon only to have the punch do nothing to the enemy. The demon quickly reached over with it's massive hands before grabbing Yang by her waist. It then lifted her into the air before suddenly throwing her into the ground. As she tried to pick herself off the ground, five nearby wraiths threw magic bolts directly at Yang hitting her across the back.

Planting one foot on the ground, Yang used that foot to push herself off the ground into a lunging punch. Her fist collided with the demon's solar plexus only causing her fist to sink into its chest for almost an inch. The demon simply swung its arm hitting Yang with its forearm throwing her towards the center of the cathedral. After she landed Yang saw that the yellow barrier over herself shattered.

Yang focused again in order to create a barrier only to be slashed by a wraith's claws hitting her back. The claws tore through her jacket cutting through the flesh underneath. Yang gritted her teeth through the pain as she slapped her hands together creating two fireballs in the palms of her hands. Spinning around on one foot, Yang kicked the wraith that attacked her causing it to explode into mist.

Throwing a fireball back to where she was thrown from, she hit the large demon consuming it in flame. Then throwing her second fireball into a group of wraiths, Yang slapped her hands together to create two more fireballs as the spirits burned before exploding into mist.

Two more large demons started their approach towards Yang. One of them let out an evil laugh as it brought both hands together causing lightning to spark between them before separating creating a whip. The other crouched down before charging at Yang hitting her with its head. Before Yang was thrown, she slammed both fireballs into the demon's head burning through the thick skull.

As Yang was thrown into the air, the second demon swung its whip at her wrapping around her waist sending lightning through her whole body. Then the demon pulled on the whip throwing her further ahead towards the fear demon.

Yang punched the ground in order to pick herself off the ground. Her eyes turned red and her hair ignited as she looked at the number of demons in front of her.

She ignited her fists before charging forward towards a hulking demon. Running through several wraiths causing them to explode, Yang cocked back her fist and punched the large demon. As soon as her fist connected with the demon, the point of contact exploded burning a hole straight through the demon.

Just as she turned around, the fear demon stood right in front of her. It then placed its clawed hand onto Yang's face. It then hissed at her as green light started shooting out from Yang's eyes and mouth.

* * *

Weiss continued down the cave tunnel not seeing much except for a couple red wraiths that seemed to ignore her for the most part. One of the spirits outstretched its hand, but only was able to let out a hiss which made Weiss walk away from it at a faster pace. She didn't notice when it hung its head down and shook it.

She continued down the tunnel before the stone floor suddenly stopped having a large pool of water in front of her. In the middle of the water was a single rock with a fear demon floating above it.

Weiss crouched down and walked over towards a large rock before hiding behind it before pulling out the metal hilt from her belt. She gripped the artifact in her hand before focusing her magic into the item. Slowly, a rapier blade started extend out of the hilt.

As the blade finished extending, the fear demon turned and faced her. It then let out a hiss causing seven green circles of light to appear in the water around the rock. A moment later tall skinny green demons that had six eyes and a vertical mouth extending down its neck and onto its chest leapt from the circles of light.

"Deal with this intruder, my little terrors," the fear demon said raising its arms in the air causing the terror demons to roar at Weiss.

Thinking quickly, Weiss stabbed the sword into the water freezing it trapping the nearby terrors. She then jumped onto the ice and slid towards the nearest terror demon stabbing it in the head. The blade easily stabbed into the demon's head causing its skin to burn in contact with the sword. The terror demon screamed in pain from the magic weapon before it went limp.

The other demons were surprised by the first demon's death. Then the demons trapped in ice created their circles of green light and mist around themselves before jumping in. A second later several circles of light appeared over the ice before the terrors jumped onto the ice.

Weiss took the blade out of the demon's head before bolting forward at the other demons. One of the demons swung its claw at Weiss, but she dropped down onto her knees sliding under the claw. She then swung her rapier at the closest demon's leg cleaving through it with ease. Then she stabbed the ice to stop herself before raising her right hand shooting an ice spear out of her hand impaling the demon's head.

Standing up, Weiss readied her sword turning to the other demons on the ice. One of them ran at Weiss and swung their claw at her. She blocked it with the flat end of her sword burning the demon's skin as the sword touched it. Then as the demon shouted in pain, Weiss shot off an ice spear into the terror's head.

Before she could react, a nearby terror swung its claw at Weiss stabbing her in the abdomen before throwing her towards the center of the room. Weiss gripped at the wound on herself trying to focus any healing magic into it as she looked at her blood splattered on the ice. After a couple seconds of gritting her teeth through the pain, the healing magic closed the wounds. Then she tried to pick herself up off the ground only to have a hand firmly grip itself around her neck and pick her off the ground.

"To knowingly come into my domain, the arrogance," the fear demon snarled at her as it lifted her off the ground. "Why would you dare come here?"

"You're possessing my friend," Weiss managed to say almost in a snarl from the fear demon squeezing her neck. "Let her go you bastard!"

"Your friend? Oh, you mean the red one," the demon said pulling Weiss closer to him giving her a malicious smile. "Her fear was deep in her mind, screaming out to me. It was easy to take her mind. Too bad she is now stuck in an endless cycle of terror. The power she's giving me is simply… delicious. Soon, she will become nothing more than one of my servants, a little terror of her own." It paused for a moment before breathing in deeply. "Your friend, the one you came here with has surrendered to the fear." It then leaned in close to Weiss and smelled her. "You don't seem to be afraid, maybe we should change that."

Gripping tightly to her neck, Weiss's vision was blocked by a blinding green light as she felt a burning sensation over her whole body. She tried to scream from the pain only to hear a high pitched ringing. Her vision cleared as the fear demon threw her into the ice. Her body broke through and Weiss watched the fear demon and terrors looked into the hole in the ice as it closed in front of her.

* * *

The group watched as the beams of light attached between the three girls disappeared. Glynda suddenly lowered her crop then collapsed. Just before she hit the ground, Pyrrha caught the mage and gently set her on the ground.

"My apologies," Glynda said to everyone wiping the sweat off her forehead. "Even with my power and control, that spell took a lot out of me. That demon is a lot more powerful than I initially thought. We are actually lucky the demon possessed a non-magic user like Ms. Rose, otherwise I don't think I would've been able to incapacitate the one possessed."

"What would happen if it did possess a mage?" Nora asked her.

"Imagine raw magical power being constantly expended from a mage to the point that their body begins to violently destroy itself from the inside," Glynda told them taking a dust potion from her bag and drank it. "The more powerful the demon, or even the more powerful the mage, the more destructive the power. Combine the two and that demon could destroy entire cities in an instant."

"But since it possessed Ruby, it can't use that power," Jaune said piecing it together, "but would she still be destroyed from the inside?"

"If she remains possessed for a long period of time, yes, but she should be fine for now," Glynda said to them. "She couldn't have been possessed for that long. Ms. Rose would had had to had nightmares for several nights to draw the attention of the fear demon. Then the demon would have had to take time to affect her dreams making them worse and giving it more power. After that, it would be able to possess Ruby enough to control her, but it still doesn't have full control over her body."

The group remained there observing the three girls. During this time Ruby's body began to writhe, but before anyone could restrain her, Ruby's body relaxed. Moments later Yang cringed as she bent backwards. A second later Weiss cringed as she moved her right hand to press against her abdomen and a second later three blood stains started to form on her tunic.

"They're getting injured," Ren said as he turned Yang over lifting her tunic to see the claw marks bleeding out. "Nora, get the bandages, hurry." Nora nodded in response before running off to the saddlebags near the horses.

"This may end up badly," Glynda said as she tried to stand only to stumble before Pyrrha reached out and caught her. "They only have training fighting opponents from our realm, but now they are dealing with demons in their realm. If they succumb to fear, it will make the demon more powerful."

"Ms. Goodwitch, can't you heal them with magic?" Ren asked her as he waited for Nora to come back from retrieving the bandages.

"Unfortunately, despite the forms of magic I have learned over the years, I cannot cast healing magic," she said walking over to him. "That form of magic is rare and typically found only in tomes except for a few rare cases where a mage knows it naturally. Also, mages with that power end up joining the clergy to become healers tending to the common folk. Ms. Schnee seems to have healed herself, but Ms. Xiao Long is the one who we may need to worry about." Nora finally returned and handed bandages to him.

As Ren started cleaning Yang's wounds, Ruby started to move. She did not writhe in pain like she usually did while asleep, the movements were more subtle. Ruby's head tilted slightly and her leg bent a little. Her left hand suddenly strained for a second before clenching into a fist.

* * *

"Don't think I can be beaten so easily!" Yang shouted with rage as her entire body became coated in flames. Reaching up, Yang gripped the fear demon's hand breaking it completely off. Then she raised her right foot in the air before slamming it on the round. That action resulted in an explosion that completely incinerated all the nearby wraiths.

Then Yang cocked back her fist before punching the fear demon in the chest causing it to explode in a bloody mess from the impact. Turning around, Yang saw a hulking demon preparing to charge her, so she cocked back her fist punching it in the head forcing it to explode. She then slapped her hands together creating another set of fireballs before throwing both at the nearest hulking demon incinerating it.

Jumping in the air, Yang cocked back her fist as her entire body became covered in flames. Looking down, she saw three more hulking demons and several wraiths surrounding them. Reaching the apex of her jump, Yang could feel the heat coming off herself as she fell towards the ground. Just before Yang's fist hit the ground, the entire area changed to a destroyed village.

When her fist hit the ground, the entire area exploded consuming everything in fire. Yang's entire vision was blocked by flames, despite trying to leave the fire. Moments later the fire died down and saw that surrounding her were charred corpses of villagers raising their hands in front of themselves. Looking around, Yang searched for the signs of the destroyed cathedral only to see a destroyed village. It took her a moment of looking around before she found a sign with an arrow pointing towards the edge of town with two simple words Yang recognized despite not being able to read, ' _Fort Signal.'_

* * *

Weiss suddenly landed on the ground, not feeling like she was underwater anymore. Looking around, she saw a lightly forested area with snow covered pine trees. After walking through the forest, she came to a cobblestone path with intricate white torch posts on the sides of the path.

She seemed to remember that path and decided to follow it until she heard the sounds of footsteps. Keeping the metal hilt in her hand, Weiss cautiously walked forward as she focused magic into the weapon creating a rapier blade. When she heard the footsteps come closer to her from behind, Weiss turned around and thrusted the weapon at the source of the noise.

At that moment Weiss saw a boy younger than her with white hair and blue eyes she immediately recognized as Whitley who had his hands bound behind his back and mouth gagged. He looked completely shocked at Weiss as he looked down at the blade that had been stabbed into his chest. Weiss then saw as the cloth used to gag him became soaked in blood as he coughed several times and fell to his knees.

"Whitley, I'm so sorry, what are you doing here?" Weiss asked dropping the metal hilt as she caught him removing the gag from his mouth. She then raised her hands over his wound and began trying to heal it only to have her hand glow for a second before it faded. "Why is this not working again?"

"Sister," Whitley croaked out as he coughed spraying Weiss's face with blood, "why did you do this? Why did you bring all of this upon us?"

"What are you talking about? What did I bring?" Weiss asked him as she heard sounds of animals and footsteps all around her.

"This is…" he said coughing again as Weiss saw his eyes begin to glaze over, "all your fault." She then felt as Whitley went limp in her arms.

"No, no, nonono," she said holding him close. "First mother, now you. Please don't die."

"Weiss, what are you doing? We need to- gah!" she heard a familiar voice shout. Looking up Weiss saw Yang standing there with a sword through her chest. "Weiss, run!" Yang shouted as she reached up to the sword gripping the blade before shattering it. Her eyes then shifted to red as the sword was pulled out causing her to fall to a knee. Weiss then saw Blake standing over Yang, a cold look in her eye as she stabbed the remainder of her sword into Yang's neck spraying herself in blood. Weiss nearly yelled in shock as Blake was about to pull the sword from Yang's neck, but didn't as she reached to the ground picking up the magic hilt and stood. Before Blake could retrieve her weapon, Yang's hand reached up gripping Blake's wrist. "I said RUN!" Yang shouted as her entire body became consumed in fire.

Weiss immediately turned around and ran down the cobblestone path. Just as she was about to exit the forest, she heard the sound of an explosion. Looking back, Weiss saw part of the forest was on fire with flames reaching well above the treeline.

Turning back around, Weiss could see down the path she was on that led to her family castle. Approaching the castle, Weiss immediately noticed that several parts of the building were on fire. Looking up, she could see the sky was filled with nevermores circling the area. Then, as she neared the castle she saw saw several knights of Atlas in combat with members of the White Fang and the creatures of grimm. For some reason the grimm were only attacking the knights, not the White Fang. Holding the hilt in front of herself, Weiss focused her magic into the blade preparing for a fight.

At that moment Weiss stopped as she inspected the magic sword in front of her. Looking to her belt, she noticed that her rapier wasn't sheathed there. Then looking down she saw she was wearing her tunic that still had claw marks in it, but no armor.

"This isn't real. I'm still in the Fade," Weiss realized throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. "I can't believe that I didn't find this out sooner. I need to find my way out of here so I can save Ruby." She looked around focusing on the area. "If the exit is going to be anywhere, where would it be?" Looking at the castle, Weiss saw a faint green light shining in from the windows. "There."

Running down the path, Weiss made her way to the burning castle. Pushing the large wooden doors open, she barely managed to get the door open before it was blocked by a large wooden beam. She focused her magic into her hand before placing it on the beam extinguishing the fire.

Then she squeezed through the door entering the main hall. The floor was a polished dark blue floor with white pillars leading up to the end of the grand hall. In the middle of the room, Weiss could see one of the chandeliers on top of a white haired woman she instantly recognized as her sister Winter. Then further down the hall up a small series of steps, Weiss could see a large white marble throne her father was sitting on with a large red sword stabbed into his chest.

"It's just the Fade, it's just the Fade," Weiss kept telling herself as she stepped over Winter's body trying to pry her eyes off her sister. She took a step back before turning around to push open a large dark oak door to enter the hallway she saw the light come from.

Walking down the hallway, Weiss raised the glowing sword in front of herself. Nearing the door, an atlesian knight was suddenly thrown through a nearby window. A second later an alpha beowolf jumped in before tearing through the panicking knight's armor. It then looked at Weiss before roaring.

Weiss ran forward before striking the grimm several times in the chest. She then spun around before swinging the sword upward cutting off the grimm's claw. As the claw fell onto the ground, Weiss noticed it shrink and change shades until it reached the dark green of the terror demons. Before the terror demon could claw her, Weiss ran up stabbing it in through the head causing burns to appear and smoke as it fell limp. As Weiss removed the blade from the grimm's head, its body began to get thinner and change shades until the body turned into a terror's.

Stepping around the creature's body, Weiss neared a door. _The_ door. The one that had started it all. Taking a deep breath, she shakingly reached out to the door handle before pulling it open. She expected to see her mother in the room dead, only to have a blast of cold air hit her nearly knocking her off her feet.

* * *

"No, no, no!" Yang shouted as she held her hands against her head. "This isn't- this can't be-" A scream interrupted her train of thought causing her to look in the direction of the screaming. She saw one of the girls from the village cowering in fear from a beowolf preparing to attack her.

Yang immediately bolted to the beowolf and punched it in the head tearing through the grimm's head snapping its neck. As the grimm started to turn into ash, Yang turned to the child about to ask her is she was alright, but before she could say anything the girl began screaming bloody murder. Yang took a step towards her, but stopped when she stood before running off into the burning village. It was not long after that the screaming stopped.

Walking out into the street, Yang searched the area only to find more charred corpses of villagers. Continuing down the street, Yang could see the corpses of the people she's known for years on the sides of the streets. Searching, Yang's body froze as she caught sight of her father's blacksmith shop nearly destroyed.

Yang ran into the building, her heart racing as she ripped off the door. "Dad, dad!" Yang shouted as she ran through the shop into the house. When she entered the burning kitchen, she looked to the right and saw two charred feet. "Dad!" Yang ran up to the person and only met with the charred corpse of a man wearing half a leather apron with his hands raised in front of himself and a collapsed skull.

Before she could say anything, Yang heard a crashing sound come from forge. When she made it to the forge, she saw half a broken metal shaft on the floor of the forge. Then she found the other half of the shaft and the fragmented scythe blade Yang recognized as Crescent Rose. She then saw a thick trail of blood as if someone was being dragged towards the basement.

Yang walked down the stairs cautiously as she looked for whoever was downstairs. The bloodstain on the stairs and ground seemed to show that who caused the crashing sound fell down the stairs before dragging themselves behind the barrels of ore.

She walked by the bloodstain to the corner of the room. When she looked over the barrels, Yang could see Ruby dragging herself into the corner of the basement. Ruby was still alive, but barely. She appeared to have both her legs and one arm broken and several open wounds including a gash open on her cheek leading up to her temple that was bleeding profusely.

"Ruby! What happened?" Yang asked her causing Ruby to look at Yang and let out a scream as she tried dragging herself further into the corner.

"No! Get away from me!" Ruby shouted at her as her back became pressed against the wall.

"Ruby, what happened, why are you scared of me?" Yang asked kneeling down next to Ruby causing her to scream as Yang came close.

"Get away from me! You caused all of this! You killed everyone!" Ruby shouted as she reached down to her broken leg and pulled out her dagger from her boot. "You killed dad!"

"Ruby, I didn't do-" Yang said as several images flashed into her mind. Each about how she fought everyone in town. Then she began remembering how she killed her dad with fireball enhanced punches and how she fought Ruby. Punching the wall, Yang tried to make sense of everything. "This isn't- I couldn't have… Ruby, you have to believe me. I wouldn't do this to you." Yang took one step towards her sister.

"I said get back!" Ruby shouted at her swinging the dagger at her. "You caused all of this. You lost control and killed everyone. You would be better off alone, where you couldn't hurt anyone." Ruby then turned the blade around placing it against her chest over her heart. "This is for the best, Yang. I'm sorry." With one pained grunt, Ruby plunged the dagger into her chest.

"No!" Yang cried as she immediately moved to catch Ruby. She then watched as the light drained from her sister's eyes. Yang could feel tears fall landing onto Ruby's face. "No!"

* * *

"This isn't my mother's room," Weiss said as she looked into the room only to see a dark room with ice hanging from the ceiling. "Well then, let's see if I can find my way out of this nightmare land."

After taking a single step into the room, the door slammed shut on its own. Weiss turned around to try and open the door only to see it was all just wall. Sighing, she turned back around and continued in.

Shortly after walking in, faint sobbing could be heard in the distance. The more she walked towards the noise, the colder it became. It also became bright enough that Weiss began to recognize the room as the warehouse hallway.

Nearing the source of the noise, Weiss started walking slowly raising her weapon to fight anything the fear demon threw at her. Opening the door at the end of the hallway, Weiss entered the main room of the warehouse covered in ice. Then in the middle of the room was Weiss holding Ruby in her arms, weeping into the younger girl's shoulder.

"Why would this be near the exit?" Weiss asked herself ignoring the pounding in her chest and the primal feeling inside herself screaming to turn around. Despite that feeling, Weiss continued further keeping an eye on the other Weiss as she approached.

"Why do you even try?" the other Weiss asked not looking up at the approaching original. "Everything you do only leads to pain to those closest to you."

"I'm not going to answer your question, demon," Weiss said raising her weapon at the demon. "I've broken the spell over me. I know this is all just a dream made up by you and you're just another fear demon or one of its terrors."

"Heh," the demon chuckled as she stood up letting Ruby drop to the ground. "At this point the other one had already given up." It then looked up at Weiss with a smile as its eyes turned red. "I think I have a better question: why are you even doing this?"

"Ruby is my friend, I would do anything to save her," Weiss answered her cautiously sidestepping the demon as it did the same.

"Is that really the only reason?" it asked her then tapped it's own head. "You forget, I'm already in your head. I know everything you do, your deep dark fears, but with all your memories I know other things. Ruby is the only 'friend' that you would go this far to save."

"What are you saying?" Weiss asked it as the demon simply waved its hand in the air creating her rapier before raising it in front of herself.

"Every person has their own fears, and I gain power from it. Your blonde friend fears being alone because she could not control herself and the rage she holds inside. The red one fears her potential to kill. Despite how much she says otherwise, her hands are already dirtied." It smirked as it stepped forward thrusting the weapon at Weiss, which she parried easily before riptosing missing the demon's shoulder by mere millimeters. "You have pretty simple fears. You fear losing the ones you love. A reasonable fear that most caring people have, but that isn't the whole thing."

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked her doppelganger as she thrust her blade at the demon only to have it parry her magic blade to the side before stepping forward spinning.

As the demon spun around, it stabbed its rapier into Weiss's side before she could react. Then it returned to its battle stance as Weiss gripped the wound on her side with her free hand before raising her rapier in front of herself. "You fear losing her," it gestured at Ruby laying on the floor, "but despite how much you care for her, you are the cause for her pain every time she is hurt. Think about it. If you had never entered her life, Ruby would never had gone on this adventure where she has time and time again thrown herself into danger for you. Even here," it gestured to the entirety of the warehouse, "Ruby put herself in danger, drawing Torchwick's attention and taking the beating in order to protect you." It then laughed. "You don't even know the part of this that makes it hilarious. Despite how much you try to not think about it, the thought always tugs on your heart whenever you question why Ruby does this."

Weiss closed her eyes before scowling. She lunged forward striking at the demon, but it simply parried Weiss's sword before kneeing her in the chest. It then grabbed Weiss's left wrist before breaking it forcing her to let go of the magic hilt. Then the demon simply threw Weiss across the floor causing her to crash into the wall.

"It also isn't just one sided, you've done some interesting things," it said picking up the hilt from the ground before throwing it off to the side. "Healing her time and time again, even regaining your magic faster just because of your want to heal her. When you broke your arm you simply turned away so she wouldn't notice because you didn't want her to worry. The most interesting example I can think of would be even here, where despite not being able to use your magic, you broke the inhibitor and had a magic surge because of your emotions tied to this situation to want to protect Ruby. You basically confessed this to her when you were playing nursemaid, but you probably still don't know what I'm talking about."

"Shut up!" Weiss shouted as her eyes began to glow blue. Moving her hand upward, Weiss created an ice spike from the ground that stabbed through the demon's leg. She then moved her hand downward causing another ice spike to shoot down from the ceiling stabbing into the demon's shoulder. With the demon pinned down, Weiss raised both hands into the air, her left hand repairing itself with magic, before swinging them inward causing and ice spike to shoot from the floor stabbing into its chest and a second one to shoot from the ceiling impaling the demon's head.

* * *

Weiss's eyes suddenly shot open. She could feel the water surrounding herself. Looking around she could see the magic hilt still in her hand and the ice above her. Planting one foot on the ground below her, she focused magic into the hilt creating the blade before pushing upwards. Before she hit the ice, Weiss stabbed the weapon into the ice managing to cut a hole in the ice allowing her to leave.

She pulled herself onto the ice and looked around only to see that she was alone. Standing up, Weiss found the tunnel she had come from, and on the other side of the room she found a similar tunnel. Deciding that the only way out was forward, Weiss continued down the new tunnel.

After a while of walking, Weiss exited the cave seeing an open area in front of herself. Several wraiths looked at her before turning away from the princess. Weiss then looked ahead and saw what could only be described as a castle made from jutting black rock. She figured that was the most likely place a demon would live, so she continued down the path.

Making her presence known to any spiritual beings by creating her magic weapon, she didn't have any altercations in her walk towards the black castle. The only interference she had was one terror demon attacking her, but she lunged forward stabbing it in the head. That sent a clear message to any demon that she would kill them if they came close.

She walked up the stairs leading up to the black castle, glaring at the building as she closed in. Pushing open the door, Weiss entered the demon's 'grand hall' which appeared to be a triangle shaped room that seemed to be made of spires of black rock. On the sides of the hall were several different kinds of demons like wraiths, hulks, and terror demons all that seemed to serve under the fear demon.

"So, I see you are determined," the fear demon said looking at Weiss. "It's not just anyone who can escape one of my nightmares." It smirked at her. "Shall we do that again?"

"I have had enough of your games! This ends now!" Weiss suddenly started running down the main hall. Before the demons could react, Weiss managed to reach the fear demon standing in front of the towering demon. "Give me back Ruby!" she shouted as she stabbed the magical sword into the fear demon's chest causing its eyes and mouth to emit the green beams of light before Weiss's vision turned black.

* * *

When Weiss's vision returned, she could immediately see that she was in a dark forest with a dark red sky and a large broken moon. "Of course Ruby's nightmare would be color themed," Weiss said as she searched the area for any signs of Ruby. "Where would she be?" After searching for a little bit, Weiss saw a small trail of blood being illuminated by the moonlight.

She could tell that there was certainly a difference between this dream and her own. While Weiss's dream was loud and filled with fighting and destruction, Ruby's dream was silent, that was until Weiss heard screaming coming from down the trail. Weiss ran down the trail towards the screaming until she came to a building of complete darkness with a single door facing her.

Silently opening the door, Weiss could see Ruby tied to a table in the center of the room. Around the table there was a man Weiss recognized as Roman Torchwick holding a blood soaked hand over Ruby's mouth and a woman who only appeared as a silhouette. It was only then that Weiss saw half of Ruby's face was covered in blood that seemed to be pouring from where Ruby's left eye should be.

"Jeez, little red, it can't be _that_ painful," Roman said to Ruby as she continued to struggle against her bindings while shouting in pain. Torchwick simply sighed as he raised his thin blade into the air before forcefully impaling the weapon into Ruby's abdomen causing Weiss to jump back slightly gasping at what she saw. Weiss then watched as he kept pushing the blade into her abdomen down to the hilt which Weiss could then hear the scraping as the blade stabbed into the table. "How many times do I have to tell you struggling won't help?" Torchwick said as he reached over with his free hand picking up a silver eye that nearly caused Weiss to vomit. "Dinnertime." He then handed the eye over to the shadowed woman who put the body part into her mouth.

Weiss felt sick to her stomach as she heard the sounds of chewing before a sickening gulp. She then watched as the woman made a blood stained smile and looked over Ruby. "Are you still hungry?" Torchwick asked the woman somewhat annoyed. "Fine, I'll get you seconds. Though, my weapon is currently in use at the moment. I think I can work around this." Roman reached over to Ruby's remaining eye as she tried to plead with him.

Weiss felt rage spread over her body as she gripped the metal hilt in her hand. Creating the rapier blade in her hand, Weiss sprinted at the table jumping over it stabbing Torchwick in the chest knocking him to the ground. She could hear Torchwick begin to let out a demonic scream as his skin around the wound began bubbling and burning in contact with the weapon. She removed the blade from his chest before stabbing him again in the neck. A moment later, Weiss watched as Torchwick's body began reshaping into the body of a terror demon.

Weiss stood up before turning to the shadowed woman who seemed surprised at Weiss's presence. It took a step back, but Weiss bolted from her spot stabbing the demon in the back. Then she removed the weapon before stabbing the demon several times before it fell to the ground turning its body back into that of a terror demon.

"Weiss, Weiss, is that you?" she could hear Ruby ask in a near pained panic.

"Yes, it's me, Ruby," Weiss said running over to the table cutting the ropes tying her hands.

"Weiss, it hurts, it hurts so much," Ruby said as Weiss cut the ropes tying her feet.

"Don't worry, we're going to get you out of here," she said as she moved over to the cane sword stabbed into Ruby's abdomen. She reached out and grabbed the weapon moving it a little causing Ruby to shout in pain. "Ok, so that's not a good idea."

"Pull it out," Ruby said cringing as she gripped the sides of the table. She then saw Weiss was about to suggest something else before she interrupted her. "Pull it out!"

"Ok… I can do this," Weiss said gripping the curved handle of the weapon. "I'm pulling it out." As soon as she started tugging the handle, Ruby began screaming. Ignoring the cries of pain coming from the younger girl, Weiss grunted as the blade dislodged from the table before it pulled out of Ruby.

It was at the exact moment the weapon was pulled out of Ruby, that the area surrounding Weiss disappeared including Ruby. A couple seconds later the area around Weiss changed back into a forested path. Unlike before, the sky appeared to be normal and the forest seemed almost familiar.

She then heard the sounds of a small girl screaming down the path. Running down the dirt path, Weiss saw a tall man with a straggly beard dragging a small girl who couldn't be that much older than six by her hair down the path. Weiss then saw as the girl opened her eyes to try and see where she was, but Weiss could see the young girl's silver eyes.

"Ruby!" Weiss nearly yelled as she created the magical blade before running over there only to crash into an invisible wall. "What?" Weiss asked as she tried going forward only to hit the invisible wall again. Taking her weapon, Weiss struck the wall that harmlessly bounced off the invisible wall. "No, no, this can't happen. I need to save Ruby."

"Will you shut up!" the man shouted to the child Ruby as he picked her up off the ground raising her up to his level. She then swung her fist only to hit him in the chest that bounced off harmlessly. Before she could punch him again, he caught her fist before raising it up letting go of her hair. "Hey, there is nothing you can do against me." He then reached to his belt pulling out a large knife placing it near Ruby's face. "I was only told to bring the child with silver eyes back to the ship in the morning, they never said anything about what condition you had to be in."

"Don't you hurt her you bastard!" Weiss shouted as she began rapidly striking the invisible wall causing very small glowing scratches to begin to form.

Ruby stared at the knife silently in terror for a couple seconds as the man chuckled. "Now you know your place you worthless-" He was suddenly cut off by Ruby grabbing his hand and biting it tearing through his skin forcing him to drop the knife. "You little brat!" he shouted as he threw Ruby off down the path. "You might not even be worth the risk of all this." Ruby's response was to simply spit out the skin from his hand before running at him.

He was about to reach over and grab her, but Ruby ducked under his hand running between his legs. After she ran past him, she slid on the ground to grab his knife that was about the size of her forearm. Taking the knife, Ruby ran up to the back of his legs slicing through his Achilles tendon on the back of his right foot causing him to shout in pain.

"You bitch!" he yelled as he swung his arm back to hit her. Before his hand hit her, Ruby ducked slicing upwards cutting his hand.

Ruby then ran forward away from him before turning around. She ran directly at him bolting off to his left, Ruby planted her foot on the ground before using it to lunge directly at his left leg. She then slashed through his left Achilles tendon causing him to fall forward from not being able to keep his balance.

She then jumped onto the man's back. Ruby started to yell as she began plunging the knife into the man's back forcing him to shout in pain. Taking the knife out of his back, Ruby stabbed the knife into his back again before repeating that action over and over. After several times she stabbed him, she withdrew the dagger from his back before plunging it into his neck.

After several minutes of striking the invisible wall and watching the scene in front of her, Weiss managed to break through the wall. Moving through the wall, she then noticed as soon as she entered the area, the invisible wall healed. Running over to the child Ruby, Weiss could hear Ruby wailing as she continued to stab the man despite him not even moving.

"Ruby, we need to get you out of here," Weiss said as she approached the child. Ruby looked up at Weiss, tears streaming down her face before she jumped back in shock screaming. "Ruby, it's me, Weiss." Weiss walked forward towards Ruby who tripped before landing on her back.

"Go away, it's all my fault," Ruby said crawling backwards. "I'm a killer."

Weiss moved forward and suddenly pulled Ruby into a tight hug. "It's ok, Ruby, it's not your fault," Weiss told her resting her chin on the younger's girl head rubbing her back. "You had no other choice. You were kidnapped and needed to save yourself. You're not a killer."

"No, no!" the child Ruby shouted sounding like her older self for a moment. "It's all my fault. My eyes are causing problems for everyone I care about. I was kidnapped and endangered my best friend. Now terrible people are coming for me and my friends and I don't think I can stop them. I'm a terrible person."

"Ruby, you are not causing problems for us, and you are not a terrible person," Weiss said as the child began weeping into Weiss's chest. "We care for you. _I_ care for you. Whatever problems arise, we will all stand against them." Weiss then let go of Ruby to place her hands on Ruby's shoulders so she could look her in the eyes. "I will always be by your side, no matter what happens, I will be there." She raised one hand and wiped the tears from Ruby's eyes. "I wish I would have known you sooner. You are the greatest person I know, so please smile, I love seeing you smile." The little girl looked down for a second before smiling a little at Weiss. "There we go, much better."

From behind them, there seemed to be the sounds of shuffling. Looking over, Weiss immediately saw the man begin to pick himself up. "All this… stuff is going to make me sick," he said as he stood up before reaching up to his neck removing the large knife letting it drop to the ground. "Sure, you may have intervened this once, but I own that girl, and there is no way you can stop me from taking her. Instead of just hiding behind so many of my other fakes to torment you, I decided to come here myself because apparently that is the only way to get things done."

"And the demon finally decides to show it's face," Weiss said standing up. "Ruby, run. I will deal with this _thing._ After it's dead we can get out of here." She looked down and saw Ruby quickly nod before running off into the woods.

"Ha, you think it's going to be that easy," the demon said before Weiss suddenly bolted forward stabbing it in the head. It then twisted its head to look Weiss directly in the eyes before pushing itself further onto the blade so it could get close. "I am not the same as that _pathetic_ thing you fought in your nightmare, I'm more powerful than that _idiot_ the red one here killed in that dungeon. I am the embodiment of Fear, and you are in my domain. Some fancy trinket isn't going to defeat me." It grabbed Weiss's wrist before twisting it forcing Weiss to let go of the magic hilt. Then the demon kneed Weiss in the chest before throwing her off to the side. It then began to morph back into its original shape. "In here, I AM GOD!"

"Some god," Weiss said with a chuckle as she picked herself off the ground, "you had to come here yourself to deal with me." Looking past the demon, Weiss saw child Ruby creep in the darkness towards the magic hilt that was now behind the demon. "You get your power from fear. Yes, it is a powerful emotion. It can hold us back, keep us from doing what needs to be done, but I am not afraid of you, so you have no power over me. Now, if you think for a moment that just because you have Ruby's physical body under your control, you have all the power here, you are terribly wrong. Ruby is the most fearless person I know, and you will never break her spirit!"

"What!?" the demon shouted as Ruby ran forward grabbing the magic hilt before bolting towards Weiss and tossing it at her. After Weiss caught the hilt, Ruby then quickly ran off to the left towards the large knife picking it up. "No!"

Weiss swung the sword upwards shooting off several ice spikes that stabbed the demon in the chest. Then Ruby bolted forward before jumping stabbing the knife into the demon's chest. It then let out a shout of pain as one of its spider legs connected to its back tried to attack Ruby. She held onto the knife as she dodged the spider leg letting it come close before she grabbed it, pulled the knife from its chest, and cut the leg off.

As Ruby fell to the ground, Weiss lunged forward in the blink of an eye stabbing the demon in the chest with her sword and catching Ruby's arm with her right. Weiss then tossed Ruby upwards allowing her to fly over the demon's head before bringing the knife down cutting through half of the spider legs on its back. Ruby then jumped up, and using the cut off leg she originally had and the knife, climbed up the demon's back cutting off the remaining spider legs. Weiss jumped back for a second and began creating a small blizzard around her sword's blade.

While Weiss was creating her blizzard, Ruby jumped off the demon's back and began distracting it. The demon became frustrated and started throwing green bolts of magic that the small Rose easily dodged. When the spell was ready, Weiss lunged forward before swinging her sword at the demon engulfing it in a small blizzard. Weiss grabbed Ruby and began running away from the blizzard as the demon screamed in pain. Both of them managed to make it to a safe distance as the blizzard sped up and grew before forming into several ice spears that then impaled into the demon's chest. Both of them walked towards the demon and saw that it was now a frozen statue having its hands raised in front of itself.

Weiss then felt Ruby reach up to hold her right hand and squeezed it. Weiss smiled as she looked down squeezing Ruby's hand back. "We did it," Ruby said with a smile.

"Yes, we did," Weiss said kneeling down to hug Ruby. They suddenly hear the sounds of cracking forcing them to look at the demon.

"I can not be beaten that easily," the demon shouted breathing heavily as it started jerking it's body to move towards the girls. "I am the god of this realm."

It tried to take a step towards the girl only to have it's leg break off at the knee causing it to fall. Placing its other leg on the ground, the demon used that and one of its arms to walk over towards the girls. After moving a couple feet, the demon's arm shattered under the weight. It then neared the girls stretching out one arm at the girls causing it to break off at the elbow.

"Ruby, I think it's time to finish this," Weiss said looking to the younger girl raising the magic hilt creating a dagger blade holding it above the demon's head.

"Yes, I think we should," Ruby said placing both hands on the pommel. As she began pushing on the pommel, Weiss pushed downward stabbing the magical blade into the demon's head. The area seemed to shatter as the demon did, and Ruby was no longer standing next to Weiss. She looked around and saw Ruby sitting back on her kidnapper's back with the knife still in her hand.

"Ruby, Ruby!" Weiss heard someone shout from down the road. Looking down the path, Weiss saw Qrow running over to his niece. "There you are, thank god."

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby cried as she saw him run over to her picking her off the ground pulling her into a tight hug. "U-uncle Qrow, I- I- I killed-"

"Shh, shh, it's alright, I'm here," he said whispering into her ear walking past the kidnapper's body making sure she wasn't looking at it. He then placed her on the ground and placed his hand on her chin making sure she looked at him. "Ruby, you need to run home, Tai and Yang are worried about you. I will take care of things here, you just need to run back home." He let go of Ruby and she took a few steps away from him before looking back. "Go, I'll be right behind you." She then turned and began running down the path towards her home.

It was at this point Weiss saw that the area started shaking before the sky started to crack. Then everything shattered causing her to see nothing but darkness.

* * *

"Ok, I think Yang should be fine," Ren said after he finished patching up Yang's back.

"As long as she doesn't get injured more, she should be fine," Glynda said as she looked at Weiss and Yang.

"Guys, I don't think Weiss and Yang are the ones we should be worrying about," Jaune said drawing everyone's attention towards him. When they looked at him they could see him being held by Ruby with a knife pressed against his neck. "Ms. Goodwitch, w-what should we do?"

"Don't move," Glynda said to him as she reached towards her belt to grab her riding crop.

"Don't grab that you magical bitch!" possessed Ruby shouted between breathing heavily as her eyes began glowing brightly green. "I will not be beaten so easily! Your little fucking friends think they can just- gah!" she shouted in pain letting go of Jaune as beams of light flashed out of Ruby's eyes before she suddenly collapsed on the ground.

Both Weiss and Yang jerked up taking a deep breath simultaneously. Ruby was still for a moment before her eyes shot open now back to normal silver and suddenly gasped.

"Are you guys ok?" Pyrrha asked them as Weiss and Ruby both started standing up, Yang however, looked at her hands before crying.

"Yang, what happened?" Ruby asked her sister causing the blonde to look at her before crying. Ruby then ran over and hugged her sister. "What's wrong?"

"I- I killed you, I killed dad, I killed everyone," Yang said sobbing, "It wasn't real, but it felt so real. I- I remember everything."

"Yang, it's fine," Ruby said consoling her sister as Yang reached up pulling Ruby into a tight hug.

"What happened in there?" Glynda asked Weiss as they both stepped back from everyone.

"I don't know what Yang went through, but the demon tried to break me by putting me through my worst fears," Weiss said as she looked over to Ruby. "I managed to break out of my nightmare, and then fought the demon by going into Ruby's nightmare. She and I dealt with the demon managing to kill it."

"Impressive, killing a demon in their own domain is quite the feat," Glynda said.

"Oh right, I should return this," Weiss said grabbing the magic hilt and holding it out for Glynda to take.

"Keep it," she said surprising Weiss. "I assume that it was incredibly useful for you during your time in the Fade. I have several more back in my tower at Fort Beacon, and I think you may need it in case any demon's try to affect your dreams."

"Well, thank you," Weiss said putting the hilt in her pocket.

"There is no need for thanks, Ms. Schnee," Glynda said turning from Weiss and started walking away. "You defeated a powerful demon and saved your friend. I recommend you get some rest."

* * *

Weiss sat near the campfire using what magic she had left over to alleviate the pain she was feeling left over from breaking her arms several times that day. As she sat there, she had time to think, most of it about Ruby and what the demon said. After a short while thinking about Ruby and her feelings, Weiss's heart began heavily beating in her chest. Then it suddenly clicked, Weiss realized she cared for Ruby more than just as a friend, she had for a while. When they were kidnapped, after Weiss thought Ruby had died, she started heavily falling for her, and it scared her.

Weiss was terrified at her realization. What if Ruby didn't feel the same way? She wanted to tell Ruby how she felt, but she could barely think about how she would say it. Would she say the right thing? Would Ruby understand how she felt or would she think Weiss was saying she felt that Ruby was a really good friend?

At that moment, Weiss felt someone tap her shoulder causing her to jump slightly. Looking up, Weiss saw Ruby standing there with a smile. "Hello, you should probably be getting some sleep. The others are already in bed and Ms. Goodwitch summoned her Spirit of Protection again that's keeping watch," she said smiling at her.

"Oh um.. hey," Weiss said looking away from Ruby to hide the blush forming on her face. "I think I'm going to stay awake tonight. I think I have spent enough time asleep today. You probably should though."

"I've spent a lot of time going through nightmares," Ruby said with a yawn before turning towards her tent. "Though, it can be exhausting, so I might as well sleep. Goodnight Weiss, you should still get some rest."

"I will, just in a little while." Weiss looked over her shoulder and saw Ruby take a step away. "Screw it," Weiss said standing up before turning to Ruby placing her hands on her shoulder causing her to turn around facing the princess. "Ruby, can we talk, please, in private?"

"Uh, sure," Ruby said looking around. "The spirit is on the other side of the camp, so I think we're pretty alone."

"Ok, good," Weiss said then sat down next to the fire gesturing for her to sit down looking away from the redhead.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Ruby asked sitting down.

"Ruby, you know that we haven't been friends for very long, right?"

"Well yes, but I don't think that really matters."

"Well, I think you know that I consider you my best friend, despite only knowing each other for a couple months," Weiss said as she clenched her fist together. "Growing up, I never really had friends. So to have a friend I've gotten so close to, I've had… certain thoughts concerning our friendship."

"Weiss, what are you saying?" Ruby asked looking at her.

"I've just sat there, time and time again watching you get hurt, and it pained me every time it happened, but I think at one point it started to really tug at my heart. We've become such great friends that I can't imagine us not knowing each other, and these feelings that I have, scare me, because I don't want things to change," Weiss said letting tears fall down her face. "I- I think, that I love you."

Ruby was taken aback at this. Her cheeks started to turn red in response at her comment. She had considered Weiss one of her best friends she had known, maybe at some point she had begun to think of Weiss as more than a friend. It was so gradual that she didn't notice, at least until now. Before she could say anything, Weiss continued.

"I'm scared that maybe you won't feel the same, that you won't love me and just think of us as friends," Weiss said still letting tears stream down her face. "I have felt this way for a long time, but I never wanted to realize my feelings in fear of things changing between us. It took going to a different realm for me to realize that I really do have these feelings and that maybe if I don't tell you I might never would."

Before Weiss could continue, Ruby quickly reached up holding the sides of her face before leaning in for a kiss. As soon as their lips connected Weiss's mind felt like it was on fire. Her mouth was warm and her lips were softer than she had imagined, but to Weiss it was perfect. Time seemed so stand still as the two shared this intimate moment, but slowly Ruby and Weiss pulled back, both of them blushing harder than they thought they could.

"I should have realized sooner, falling for a princess," Ruby said with a chuckle smiling at her. She then leaned in pressing her forehead against Weiss's as she raised one hand up to wipe away her tears. "Weiss, I love you."

* * *

 **Ooh, did anyone else feel a chill down their spine? I know I did, mostly because it's cold in my room.**

 **WhiteRose has started! I told you guys this chapter would be special! One year! One year of fluff and stuff, and finally there's romance!**

 ***ahem* Anyway, I'll get back to that. So yeah, I kind of threw the whole Ruby being possessed thing at you, but it made sense. With Ruby having her nightmares drawing the attention of the fear demon, which then made Ruby's nightmare worse. With her nightmare being worse, it allowed the demon to take control of her.**

 **Another thing, Ruby being kidnapped at six and killing her kidnapper, I have wanted to do that one for a long time. Why else would Ruby not want to kill if not being traumatized at a young age by killing a man? I thought it was fitting, though maybe I could have eased in a bit.**

 **Yang's nightmare is pretty much explained in the chapter. She fears being the reason she ends up alone. Kind of like blaming herself for Raven leaving.**

 **Weiss's nightmare also is pretty much explained in the chapter. She fears losing the ones she loves, but especially Ruby, even to the point that the part of her nightmare that should have been losing her mother was replaced with her losing Ruby.**

 **Which brings me to WhiteRose! *ahem* Actually, not yet. *deep breathing* So, we have Torchwick being sadistic and Cinder being a cannibal because Ruby hasn't met her yet, but-**

 **I can't contain my excitement!**

 **WhiteRose!** **WhiteRose!** **WhiteRose!** **WhiteRose!** **WhiteRose!** **WhiteRose!**

 **It finally happened! The pairing in the description is no longer a lie! Weiss and Ruby finally professed their love for each other! The romance finally happened! I really wanted to make this happen later, having Ruby unknowingly flirt with Weiss, but I had to do it!**

 **Ho! Hooo! Now we the story can get very interesting, like the WhiteRose couple hiding their relationship from the others, mostly to avoid teasing, mostly from Yang.**

 **I think I should probably get some sleep. Seriously, I've been writing this for a week staying up till about three in the morning every day writing and editing (and knowing myself, there are probably still mistakes and even parts that don't make that much sense)**

 **So, I am going to go to bed. One year anniversary! *throws confetti again, most aimed at GrnDrgnzrd* Thank you all for one year of this story. Seriously, I would not have written this story as much as I did without all of your support.**

 **Thank you again and have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	46. Glynda's Final Lesson

**Before I start, no the title of this chapter is not as dark as some of you may think I may make it. Sleep Deprived Van did not have that much input on this chapter.**

 **Hello everyone, this is J. Van A, who has literally spent the last six hours writing this chapter. I know that may not seem like much time and with the size of this chapter, you would kind of expect that amount of work, but I generally spend more time on chapters so they don't feel rushed. Though, I also don't usually release chapters that are very long so it doesn't seem like I'm throwing so much at you at one time. Basically what I am trying to say is that I'm trying to get back on schedule, which I kind of feel like I didn't make clear with the previous sentence.**

 **Allow me to explain. Typically when I post a chapter, I take a day or two off to do homework and take a break to play video games and such, then I start writing the next chapter doing the bulk of it on Wednesday, Friday, and the weekend before posting the chapter. Then the process begins again. Last week did not exactly happen that way. I spent the week writing the anniversary chapter then posted it on Tuesday. Understandably tired, I took a took my break doing homework, but then I had an exam on Thursday, so with my brain not exactly working, I decided to start a new campaign in Dragon Age Inquisition, and anyone who has played that game knows it will suck you in. Then on Friday, Saturday, and the majority of today I helped out my brother with a comic book or graphic novel he is going to be making soon. At this point I now realize that I sound like I am making excuses for why I started writing this today at 6 p.m. and am blaming the anniversary chapter for this. I am not. I have no regrets about writing that chapter and also am probably making little to no sense right now.**

 **I'm going to move on.**

 **Reviews:**

 **aidansidhe: Fear the moat defense! They have dog flippers! No one is safe!**

 **rob york 1690: Thank you, and here is more.**

 **iamking: Thank you, there is going to be more WhiteRose, but I may not use the Fade as much. Seriously I think if I borrow one more thing from that series I would have to change this to a Dragon Age AU.**

 **Yaksher: Thank you, I kind of actually had that thought thinking that people may just dismiss the chapter.**

 **Mossblomma: Ok, Ruby has kind of had the short end of the stick lately, but compare that to what she has done in the series, this isn't that bad. I'm just trying to change the focus onto other characters for a bit and develop some stuff which seemed to make sense for Ruby to not be 'ultimate badass reaper.' The Glynda problem was actually my fault, I was kind of really tired when I was writing that portion of the chapter, but I did go back and fixed it, at least I think I did. I was still kind of tired when I updated the chapter. Basically what I changed was Glynda saying that if Yang and Weiss worked together they should be able to defeat the demon. Then later she says that the demon was stronger than she had expected. Then finally when Yang was incapacitated by the demon, Glynda was surprised when Weiss defeated it on her own, well with Ruby's help, but Weiss killed it. She didn't expect them to fail at first, but she then felt like that later. Ruby's answer was very much rushed, and I was originally going to explain how most of the chapter was through Weiss's perspective, but it bugged me and after Knowledgeseeker66's suggestion I basically said screw it and changed some stuff in the ending making it more natural. Anyway, thank you for that review, you actually started the snowball effect that helped make the previous chapter better.**

 **Kayda-Starr: *jumping up and down* I KNOW RIGHT!**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: *throws even more confetti* Thank you, you've been around for a while and every once in a while I still find myself trying to pronounce your username. The Cinder thing made sense to me, Ruby doesn't know who Cinder really is, so of course she would think that someone trying to eat her eyes would be a crazy cannibal. As I've said before I wanted to reveal the kidnapping to show why Ruby doesn't want to kill. WhiteRose!** **WhiteRose!** **WhiteRose!** **WhiteRose!** **WhiteRose!**

 **Nemasis Demarini: Do not feel sorry for me, I wanted to write the insanely long chapter. Also, that review is not insanely long, Sassy Guest has you beat for normal reviews, but Knowledgeseeker66 beats everyone with length.**

 **Guest: Oh, there will be flirting.**

 **FAnime721: I don't really plan on doing that long of a chapter again, except maybe for the two year anniversay.**

 **Darkness3rick: Hey, it doesn't matter how long you've been here, I mean Knowledgeseeker66 only recently started reading this story, but yet they've been helping me out so much and even did a thing that I will talk about later, but you follow me on twitter, so you know what I'm going to talk about.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Weiss and Ruby stayed by the fire for the night. They ended up falling asleep there leaning against each other holding hands with Ruby's cloak wrapped around them both. The fire went out shortly after then there was darkness around the camp.

Ruby was the first to wake up when the sunlight hit her eyes. She was about to move, but then saw Weiss was still asleep leaning against her, so she remained still. After what had felt like an hour, Ruby noticed Weiss start to wake up.

"Good morning," Ruby said as she turned to kiss Weiss on the forehead.

"Morning," Weiss said still in a haze before she tried to move her hand. Looking down she saw her fingers interlocked with Ruby's. Then she remembered the events of last night causing her face to immediately turn red. "Wait, wait, we didn't- no wait, we did- but I thought," she paused as she took a deep breath before looking at Ruby. "Did last night really happen, or am I dreaming?"

"If we're dreaming, then I hope it stays like this," Ruby said then planted a kiss on the princess's cheek. "As far as I can tell this is real."

"So, what do we do from here?" Weiss asked as she rested her head on Ruby's shoulder.

"I don't really know," Ruby said with a chuckle. "I've never really been in a relationship before, so what comes next is unknown to me. Maybe we could ask- no that would be a terrible idea, Yang would constantly tease us."

"Oh god, I could only imagine the things she would say," she said with a sigh. "So, I think until things cool down, we should keep things between us a secret."

"That's probably a good idea," Ruby said squeezing her hand a little. "With assassins, demons, nightmares, and travelling to Atlas, maybe adding another to that list wouldn't be a good idea."

A moment later the two of them could hear a tent's flaps being thrown open. "Good morning!" Nora exclaimed as she jumped out of her tent causing both Weiss and Ruby to jump in surprise letting go of each other before immediately standing up with their backs facing each other. "Oh, hi Weiss, hi Ruby."

"Nora, do you have to shout first thing in the morning?" Jaune asked as he crawled out of his Ren's tent with the owner quickly following behind, both of them having visible bags under their eyes. "Why did it have to be my tent that was destroyed? Thanks Ren for letting me sleep here by the way."

"Please don't let that happen again," Ren said with a yawn as Nora started laughing. "The tents are made for one person only."

"Yeah," Jaune said cracking his neck. "What is it with this group and always ending up being one tent short."

"Maybe it's a curse," Pyrrha said as she approached the group causing Nora to stop laughing and look at her. "You guys say it continually happens, so maybe it is being affected supernaturally."

"Ren, we need to break this curse!" Nora exclaimed as she ran over to Ren grabbing his sleeve.

"How would you plan to do that?" he asked her as she started dragging him off. "We don't even know where the curse is?"

"Well, we have to start somewhere," she said dragging out of the camp.

"So, are we going to say anything, or are we just going to let them run off for a while?" Yang asked as she saw what happened. She stood there waiting for a response only to get nothing. "Ok, so no."

"I think we should get ready to travel North," Blake said walking over to Yang. "We have probably less than a day before we reach a port city."

* * *

Shortly after Ren and Nora returned to the camp, the group decided to move on. As everyone kept riding down the trail, Ren, Nora, and Yang each were in the front of the group, Jaune, Blake, and Pyrrha were in the middle while Ruby, Weiss, and Glynda were riding in the back.

"So, Ms. Goodwitch, when do you plan on returning to Fort Beacon?" Weiss asked her causing the older woman to raise an eyebrow and look at her. "You've taught both Yang and I some basics of magic, but you have said before that you have plenty of work waiting for you back there."

The woman was silent for a bit before responding. "I figure I should return to Beacon soon. Several of the artifacts I am researching are harmless, but there are a couple that have the potential for being dangerous if a certain person touches it," she said, meanwhile back at Beacon Ozpin sneezed causing himself to spill the contents of his cup onto the reports on his desk. "Actually, Ms. Rose, I feel like I have seen that crossbow before. I faintly recall a weapon fitting its description missing from Beacon's armory."

"Well…" Ruby said as she tried to remember where she purchased the crossbow, "I remember buying it with the two books I gave Weiss and Yang."

"The magic tomes… damn it Ozpin," she cursed under her breath. "Well, I believe I have to check the inventory of Beacon's armory to make sure no other magic weapons are missing."

"Wait, this is from Beacon?" Ruby said as she pulled the weapon off her belt. She looked at it for a moment before holding it out to the older mage. "If you want it back, you can have it."

"No, Ms. Rose, I believe the weapon is going to have the most purposeful use travelling with you and your friends," Glynda said raising a hand motioning for Ruby to put the crossbow away. "Consider it a gift in order to protect yourself, you may need it. Though, out of curiosity, what kind of ammunition do you have?"

"Uhh…" Ruby trailed off as she reached into the saddlebags and pulled out one of her crossbow bolts before showing it to her. "These came with the crossbow, but I did purchase some more back in Redbarrow before we left."

Glynda took the bolt before inspecting it and handing it back to Ruby. "Well, that explains why you were capable of firing a bolt cleanly through that assassin's leg. The crossbow has an enchantment on it that causes it to fire off the bolt faster with more of an impact, and the bolt has a special enchantment that allows it to cut through objects it comes in contact with easier. If you use the two in tandem, the bolt should be able to fly a much longer distance than normal crossbows."

"Oh, well that actually explains a lot," Ruby said as she secured the crossbow back onto her belt.

* * *

After the majority of the day, the group managed to make it to the harbor town Anslien. Shortly after the group stabled their horses, they wandered the town for a while before renting several rooms at a local inn. Then Glynda and Yang went off to a secluded portion of the town.

"Ms. Xiao Long, I feel as I must apologize," Glynda said as she followed the younger girl.

"What?" Yang asked turning to her raising an eyebrow.

"I sent you into the Fade completely unprepared to face the dangers there," she said as she motioned for her to a building that appeared to be half destroyed. "And because of that you fell victim to the Fear demon's influence. Most mages that I end up teaching typically have several years of training and experience facing off demons in the Fade through trials that have been closely monitored by mages near my own rank. So, when I was assigned to teach you and Ms. Schnee, I held both of you to the same expectation."

"You don't have to apologize," Yang said surprising her.

"What?"

"You don't have to apologize," Yang repeated. "I knew the risk and did it anyway in order to save my sister. So you don't have to apologize for anything."

"Well, that was… somewhat unexpected," Glynda said as she used her telekinesis to move a chair from the other side of the room over to herself before sitting down. "Well, I guess we should begin your last training session before I return to Beacon."

"The last session?" Yang asked looking to her.

"Yes, as I've said before, I have several research experiments that I should return to waiting for me back at Beacon, and you and your friends are heading to Atlas. Also, if I, a court mage from Vale, were to travel to Atlas without sending a missive explaining my reasoning for travelling to the other kingdom, it could disrupt relations between the two kingdoms," she said as she pulled a book from her bag before opening it. "So, onto your lesson. Your original magic of strength augmentation has been trained over several years through growing up. I now know the tome your fire magic came from. It was one stored in my private library written in the demonic language, which is also known as the Chaos school of pyromancy."

"Chaos?"

"Yes, normal pyromancy requires much precision and control," Glynda said as she raised her hand creating a flame that stayed in the air before bending and passing between her fingers. "While it is useful, it is not as dangerous as Chaos." She suddenly jerked her hand shooting the flame that hit the wall causing a small portion to catch on fire for a moment before the flames died. "The flames of the Chaos school burn hotter and last longer than regular pyromancy. It also can be quite deadly in melee combat, and I'm sure you've noticed this as well. When you create fireballs that you don't throw before punching your opponent, the point of contact will explode. Alternatively, if you were to coat your fists with fire, your punches will deal considerably more damage."

"How can I do that?" Yang asked as she tried to create fire over her hands.

"That is another problem. As far as I know, you have only been creating your fire by either getting mad enough your hair starts on fire or slapping your hands together. I do not fully understand how the Chaos school works since I cannot read demonic, but as far as I can tell, the easiest way for you to create fire is through abrasion. So, I believe that if you were to scrape your hands together with much less intensity, you would not create fireballs."

Yang raised an eyebrow as she raised her hands. Holding them together in front of herself, Yang slid one upwards while sliding one down. In between her hands, red fire began to form and when her hands separated the flames began spreading over her hands and covering half way down her forearms.

"As I suspected," Glynda said with a smile. "Now, while the slow abrasion using both hands is useful for creating the flames over your hands, it would not be ideal during combat. I believe if you were to do abrasion at a small scale, like snapping your fingers, you should be able to create small fireballs."

* * *

It had been a few hours since Glynda left with Yang, and the others simply played a large game of Wicked Grace. At the end of the session, Ren and Nora each won two games while Blake won one. Then Yang and Glynda entered the inn, and surprisingly Yang was not completely exhausted.

"Ms. Schnee, it is time for your training session," Glynda said as she turned to the door while Weiss suddenly stood up.

The two left the inn and began heading towards the destroyed house Glynda had travelled to with Yang. After several minutes of silence, they managed to reach the secluded portion of town.

"So, what are we going to cover today?" Weiss asked as she kept walking down the empty street.

"We are simply going to work on your spellcasting. As far as I can tell, there are not that many other uses to your magic you don't already know about," Glynda said as she motioned towards the destroyed building for Weiss to go to. "While your healing magic has several other uses that could use some work, I'm sure you do know that the situations requiring that skill's use are not that easy to train."

"Or we could have you summon a spirit to fight me and have me get injured," Weiss said then turned to her as Glynda looked like she was pondering the suggestion. "It was a joke, a joke."

"Hmm, though it was a good suggestion," Glynda said as she sat down on her chair then used telekinesis to move another one before motioning Weiss to sit down. "I do wish to speak with you for a moment."

"What is this about?" Weiss asked her as she sat down.

"You and Ms. Rose seem to have gotten awfully close as of late," Glynda said causing Weiss to immediately turn red.

"Wh- what- what do you mean?" Weiss sputtered out. "Ruby and I are friends, yes we're just friends."

"Ms. Schnee, did you forget that I can communicate with the spirits I summon?" Glynda said with a smile. "What I found amusing was the spirit's description of the event, after all, it is a Spirit of Protection, not a Spirit of Love. 'The red and white ones tried eating each other before giving up and falling unconscious.' I believe that was its description of the events of last night."

"What kind of description is that?" Weiss asked legitimately confused before she realized what it meant Glynda knew. "Please don't tell me you told Yang? Ruby and I are waiting to tell the others. there is just so much going on that we don't want the others to have another thing to think about."

"Relax," Glynda said with a small laugh surprising Weiss because she had never heard the older woman laugh, "I did not tell Ms. Xiao Long. I figured you two would when you were ready. Ms. Schn-" She then paused for a second before sighing. "Weiss, I am simply going to give you some counsel on this matter." She paused for a moment and looked up to the confused princess. "Both you and Ruby are girls and while I do not disapprove of your relationship, I do not speak for the majority of Remnant. If the wrong person were to find out about your relationship, both of you may end up ridiculed. Also, you yourself are royalty. Add those two together and you have a tricky situation."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Weiss asked her.

"Royals have certain expectations of them, one of them is that the one who inherits the throne is expected to provide an heir. While you have an elder sister who is inheriting the throne, you have much more leeway than her. Though, one other thing that can be expected by you is an arranged marriage that can be used to strengthen relationships between the royal family and high ranking nobles. While that has not happened recently in the Atlesian royal family, Jacques could make that deal at any time or even your sister could when she takes the throne," Glynda told her causing Weiss to get nervous causing her heart to begin beating rapidly.

"So, there are many obstacles that can stand in the way of your relationship, but that doesn't mean you should be discouraged," Glynda said reaching over to place her hand on Weiss's shoulder. "Love is something that is worth the risk. I am telling you this now, so you and Ruby do not lose hope when you hit one of those obstacles. I do not pretend to know the future, so I do not know what you two will face, but if you both stand with each other, then I am confident in your capabilities to face whatever obstacles are in your path."

Weiss was silent for a moment before suddenly moving out of her chair and hugging the court mage causing her to be still at the sudden embrace. "Thank you," she said as Glynda slowly moved her hands returning the hug. "Thank you, for everything."

"You're welcome, Ms. Schnee," Glynda said as Weiss let go of her. "Now, I believe you have some more training you should do."

* * *

A couple hours after Weiss and Glynda left, they simply returned. Weiss gave Glynda another smile then walked over to the group before sitting down next to Ruby at the table while everyone else finished their game of Wicked Grace.

"Well, I believe that it is my time to depart," Glynda said approaching the group causing everyone to stop what they were doing before looking at her. "I have performed my duty in training Ms. Schnee and Ms. Xiao Long, and as much as I would like to continue to travel with you all, I have duties elsewhere. So, I believe this is where we must part."

"Goodbye," Weiss was the first to say before the others each said 'goodbye,' or 'safe travels,' which were spoken by Blake and Ren.

"Goodbye, you all, and I wish you good luck," Glynda said giving them a bow before leaving the building to retrieve her horse then use the planal knife to return to Fort Beacon.

The group was silent for a while before returning to small conversations as Ren shuffled the Wicked Grace deck. "So, what did you learn in your last session?" Yang asked Weiss as she picked up the cards Ren started dealing out to everyone.

"Well, we practiced my spellcasting and talked about some things," Weiss said with a smile as she reached under the table to hold Ruby's hand, which she in return smiled as she squeezed the princess's hand a little.

* * *

 **Alright, so I know this chapter seems rushed, but it's for the sake of getting back on schedule. I also think I needed to do something like Glynda talking with Weiss about WhiteRose.**

 **So, as usual, I am incredibly tired so I am going to make this brief. I did want to show how this word down work. I haven't done much for how this is medieval, so I'm bringing in arranged marriages and some other things I will explain later.**

 **Also, this story has cover art! Knowledgeseeker66 is a patron of Manu-chann who drew the free sketch of Weiss and Ruby. So thank you Knowledgeseeker again, and thank you Manu-chann even though you probably don't read this story, but thanks. For those on mobile and can't see the cover, well, I feel your pain, but if you want to see the cover you can search up Manu-chann on DeviantArt or scroll to the bottom where it should say desktop view, so you can click that to see the cover.**

 **Anyway, I am incredibly tired, so I am going to say this before signing off. Prepare for the next major arc, it is going to be very interesting.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	47. Sleeping Arrangements

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. So, I don't really have much to say about this chapter really, Sick Van tends to do that.**

 **Alright, so I'm probably not going to say much until the ending AN. So let's do reviews and get to the story.**

 **Reviews:**

 **tenofprime: Well, there are going to be some interesting things relating to the royal family in the near future.**

 **Mossblomma: I figured I would give an explanation for the crossbow before something happens.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Now, it will be interesting when risks eventually come to life.**

 **AryaFlame: I nearly almost didn't put that in the chapter.**

 **Darkness3rick: Time in Dark Souls is never good, but it is entertaining.**

 **iamking: Don't worry, my mind went to the gutter almost immediately after writing that, but then I figured I'd keep it in.**

 **Nemasis Demarini: I'm actually trying to get back into my regular schedule for writing, so I shouldn't have any more 'six hour stories'**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"And that makes one final win for me," Ren said as he laid down his hand of five angels including the Angel of Death card causing everyone playing to immediately groan in frustration.

"This game is rigged!" Jaune and Yang nearly shouted as they slammed their hands down on the table causing everything on it to jump in the air for a second before crashing down.

"Yang, calm down, it's just a game," Ruby said placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Jaune, I don't think this is the kind of thing to get worked up over," Nora said to Jaune causing him to turn to her.

"You weren't playing, Ruby," Yang said turning to her sister as Ruby sat back down in her chair.

"Nora, stop defending him," Jaune said gesturing towards Ren.

"This happens every time," both blondes said at the same time.

"They're in sync, it's almost creepy," Ruby said to Weiss.

"Maybe it's a blonde thing," Weiss said causing both of them to snicker.

"Well, if everyone would please calm down, I don't think the other patrons appreciate the commotion," Pyrrha said causing everyone to look away from their table only to see the inn's tavern practically empty except for the barkeep cleaning a tankard behind the counter. "Ok, they would if there were any."

"I don't mind the noise," the man said placing down the tankard before moving onto the next one. "Also, you kids rented the rooms for the night, so there's nobody else in the building except for me and my wife."

"Well, sorry for the noise either way," Pyrrha said standing up and giving the man a bow before turning to the group. "I believe that it would probably be best for us to retire for the evening if we are to continue travelling in the morning."

"We still have time for one more game. Right, Ren?" Nora asked elbowing his side.

"Actually, I will have to agree with Pyrrha," he said finishing collecting the deck before taking the thin string tying the cards together. "Though, there is the matter of who is sleeping in which room. We only were able to rent four with two beds each."

"Ooh! I call staying in Ren's room!" Nora exclaimed as she jumped out of the chair while holding Ren's hand causing him to raise it without changing his expression.

"We actually were expecting you to," Yang said as she reached over pulling her sister into a tight hug. "I will be staying with Ruby."

"Well-" Ruby tried to say before the others continued.

"I should probably watch over Weiss," Pyrrha said causing said girl to raise her hand before the others ignored her. "I was sent to watch over her."

"So I would then have to stay in the same room as Jaune," Blake said looking over at the bard causing her face to scrunch up in disgust.

"What's wrong with staying in the same room as me?" he asked somewhat offended.

"I had to move my tent away from yours because you talk in your sleep," Blake told him. "Something about not wanting to wear a dress."

"My sisters tried to force me into it," Jaune tried to defend himself, but was stopped by the laughter coming from Yang and Nora.

"So, what should we do about the rooms?" Blake asked after it quieted down. "I wouldn't mind going to stay with the horses in the stables."

"Actually," Ruby managed to stay poking her head out from Yang's arms getting everyone's attention, "I was actually thinking about staying in Weiss's room." She turned her head to the surprised looking Yang. "Sorry, but you snore in your sleep, really loud."

"Ruby, you wound me," Yang said overdramatizing the act of letting go of her sister and holding her heart.

"Well, this could possibly work," Weiss said as she took a step towards Ruby standing beside her. "Pyrrha and Blake could share a room while Yang and Jaune take the other."

"Yes, Yang and Jaune did share a room back in Redbarrow without any problems," Blake immediately said.

"She drunkenly knocked me out making me sleep on the floor under the bed," Jaune said.

"Yang, keep your hands to yourself," Ruby told her.

"Ruby, you make it sound so bad," Yang said raising her hands defensively before smirking, "Jaune just had a _hands_ on experience of drunk Yang. She is a fiend, not to be trusted."

"You didn't have anything to drink, right?"

"Not too much as you can see," Yang said turning towards the five empty tankards next to where she had been sitting.

"Ok, you should be fine," Ruby told her.

"Hey, are we seriously going to ignore the fact she knocked me out?" Jaune asked drawing everyone's attention as Yang pulled a tankard from apparently nowhere and chug it. Yang then made a mischievous smirk turning towards him just as he swore her eyes flashed as her gaze fixated on him. "She's drunk, please don't make me stay in the same room as her."

"If its a strong ale, she's fine till six drinks," Ruby said gesturing towards the five tankards on the table. "She's had five, so Yang's fine."

"She just drank another one," Jaune said pointing at Yang. Before everyone could turn to Yang, she apparently made the one in her hand disappear before raising her hands in front of herself looking confused. "Don't fall for her ruse, she just hid the tankard."

"Jaune, your options are sharing the room with Yang, or spending the night with the horses," Ren said as he and Nora picked up their packs. "Take your pick."

"I'll risk it with the horses."

As soon as Jaune's hand reached for his pack, a woman's voice could be heard from the room behind the bar. "Darrel, look, it's snowing," the woman said causing Jaune to freeze before his hand gripped the pack.

"Well, I don't really want to give you the _cold shoulder_ , but you made your decision," Yang said giving him another mischievous smirk that went unnoticed by the others.

"I'm watching you," Jaune said to her picking up his pack before walking towards the stairs.

* * *

"So, that was interesting," Weiss said as both she and Ruby entered their room. "Frankly, I'm surprised Yang didn't argue more for you to stay with her."

"That's because I know how Yang is when she drinks strong ale," Ruby told her placing Crescent Rose against the wall. "One to two drinks, she perfectly fine. Three to four, she starts trying to force her puns more than usual. Five, she schemes and is easier to convince to do things. Then finally, at six she gets drunk and… touchy." From the other side of the wall, the duo heard a sudden crash into the wall before a long groan. "Jaune, are you alright?"

"It was me," Yang groaned loudly from the other side of the wall so Ruby could hear her. "I tripped trying to prank Jaune."

"Ok, just go to sleep Yang. We have a lot of things to take care of tomorrow."

"I know, I know, I'm going to bed," Yang said as she stood up. Moments later there were no sounds from the other side of the wall.

"So, you don't think she can hear anything now?" Weiss asked Ruby as she placed her rapier against the wall next to the scythe.

"No, unless we nearly shout next to the wall or Yang places her ear against the wall, but if she did, Jaune would probably do something to stop her," Ruby said removing her cloak as she sat down on one of the beds.

"That's good, I don't exactly want to have our conversations overheard," Weiss said as she sat down next to Ruby before the younger girl leaned over resting her head on Weiss's shoulder. "You know, we are so focused on your family not finding out about us that I haven't really thought about how my family would react."

"We'll make it work out, I promise. If your family doesn't like me, I'll make them," Ruby said standing up giving Weiss a smile before bowing slightly to give her a kiss on the forehead. "My family should be easy to convince. Yang's my sister, and she may tease, but she wouldn't be opposed to us being together. Dad already knows you, and he seems to like you compared to other nobles he's met. Uncle Qrow would be fine because he's, well, he's Uncle Qrow. He's like a second dad."

"I'm not really concerned about gaining the approval of your family, they're nice people, even Qrow. My dad is a bit… let's not talk about this, we could stay up all night talking about my family. We should probably get ready for bed," Weiss said standing up as she removed her hairpin starting to unravel her hair from its bun.

"That's probably a good idea," Ruby said yawning as Weiss finished letting her hair down causing Ruby to let out a small chuckle.

"What? I don't look that weird with my hair down, right?" Weiss asked her as she began trying to put her hair back in its original position.

"No, no, it's fine," Ruby told her causing the princess to stop fussing about her hair. "I just thought it was funny that this is the second time I've seen you with your hair down."

"Well, I haven't really had a chance to let my hair down and take care of it because we spend so much time on the road," Weiss said as she looked at the hair in her hand before scoffing at it. "There's so much dirt."

"Wait, I think I have a solution!" Ruby exclaimed as she ran over to her pack before searching through it. "It won't be exactly perfect, but because we're travelling with Yang, she sometimes needs help with her hair." She then pulled her hand out of the bag with a brush in it with a huge smile on her face.

* * *

"So, I'm surprised you didn't argue about staying in Weiss's room," Blake said to Pyrrha as she walked over to her own bed laying down. "You were kind of adamant about following your duty here."

"Well, the princess is comfortable around Ruby, so I don't think she would rest easy with me there," Pyrrha said laying down on her bed to Blake's before looking over at her. "Anyway, I've determined that this town should safe for the most part. Actually, now that I think about it, you are the single most dangerous person to Ms. Schnee's safety."

"Hey," Blake said propping herself up to look at the knight, "I would not hurt Weiss. I may have a… difficult past with her family, but I still wouldn't do anything."

"Oh sure, right, because you've done so much to show it," Pyrrha said looking Blake in the eyes. "I've only been travelling with you all for a short time, but the first time I met you, you fought the princess and nearly killed her. You were actually lucky I didn't have my spear on me at that time otherwise I would've thrown it at you." She paused letting that sink in. "Though, as I've said, I haven't been travelling with you all for long, so maybe you've done more redeemable actions and I saw the only bad moment of yours. My judgement could be wrong."

"I promise that I would not hurt Weiss," Blake said then sighed, "but for some reason, if I were to go back on that promise, please stop me."

"That goes without saying," Pyrrha said picking up the candle on the table between them. "Goodnight." She then blew out the candle causing everything to go dark.

* * *

"So Weiss, I've been meaning to ask you something," Ruby said from behind Weiss as she continued to brush Weiss's hair.

"Hmm?" Weiss asked as she looked down at her hands.

"So, I was just wondering about what happened in the fade," she said causing Weiss to immediately become still. "I know that I was being tormented by the demon with the Torchwick nightmare over, and over, but after that I can't remember anything else."

"Well, I guess you wouldn't remember much since it was more like a dream for you," Weiss said as she started to grip her hands into a tight fist, "but I remember everything. Yang and I were immediately split up and ended up being sent into our own nightmares."

Ruby stopped brushing her hair and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Weiss, you don't have to talk about this if you want to."

"No, I'm fine," Weiss said with a sigh having her fists relax and rest on her thigh. "I was back home and was in the middle of a large battle. The demon tried to trick me by having my friends and family die in front of me, but I knew it was all fake. If I didn't have the magic hilt I probably would've thought everything was real and have fallen to the influence of the fear demon." She then began digging her fingernails into her thigh. "At the end of my nightmare, I found a door that led to the room where my mother died, and I told myself that I could get through it to escape, but it wasn't her on the other side of the door. When I walked into the room, it was the warehouse and I could see myself in the middle of the room holding you and crying. I thought it would happen just like that day, and Yang would jump down from the second floor, but nothing happened." Weiss then felt as few tears fell from her eyes as she remembered it. "Apparently, my biggest fear is losing you."

"Don't worry," Ruby said as she reached forward pulling Weiss into a hug, "I'm not going anywhere. No matter what happens, I will stay with you."

Weiss wiped the tears from her eyes before reaching up to hold Ruby's hands. "Thank you," she said leaning back into Ruby. Ruby then began leaning backwards till she was laying back on the bed while holding Weiss. "Good night, Ruby."

* * *

"Good morning!" Weiss and Ruby heard Yang exclaim from the other side of the door as she began loudly knocking on it.

Both Weiss and Ruby's eyes shot open at the same time causing them to jump up in surprise. Unfortunately, Weiss was closer to the edge of the bed causing her to fall off the bed and land on her face. "Ow," Weiss said as she began picking herself up off the ground.

"Are you ok?" Ruby asked as she crawled over the bed to look at Weiss.

"I think so, if not, I can heal it," Weiss said holding her nose as she stood up.

"Hello~" Nora sang as she opened the door walking into the room with Ren holding onto her shoulder in an attempt to stop her.

"Hi," Weiss said in mild annoyance as she removed her hands revealing to everyone that she now had a nosebleed.

"Weiss, what happened?" Yang asked as she walked into the room.

"You happened, you oaf," she said as she raised her hand back up to her nose and began healing it. Weiss then walked past Yang shooting her a glare as she sheathed her sword and grabbed her pack. "We should get going."

As Weiss left the room and Ruby began picking up her things, nobody noticed when Yang started looking around the room. She looked towards the beds and noticed the one closer to the door was seemingly untouched, like nobody had slept there. Then she looked at the bed Ruby was laying in and saw that it was messed up.

' _Maybe Weiss made her bed before tripping,'_ Yang thought to herself raising an eyebrow before turning to leave the room.

* * *

"Ok, so we need to find a ship to take us to the southern continent of Atlas, not the northern one," Weiss said to everyone. "There will be plenty of ships heading north because trade there is more profitable, so you will need to specify the southern continent. If we split up, we can probably meet with enough ship captains before noon that one of them is bound to be taking passengers there."

"So, who should search with who?" Yang asked looking at the others in the group. "Nora and Ren will probably search together."

"Yep!" Nora exclaimed as she jumped onto Ren's back wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.

"Hrk!" Ren grunted as he suddenly fell backwards from the sudden weight of Nora and her hammer knocking him off balance. He was silent for a moment before letting out a small groan. "I'm fine." Nora started to laugh a little. "So is Nora."

"Ok, with that out of the way, I will be searching with Ruby," Weiss said taking a step towards the young redhead.

"So, are we just going to have people split into groups depending on where they slept last night?" Yang asked her.

"Well, no," Weiss said causing both Jaune and Blake sighed in relief. "Ok, Jaune and Pyrrha, and Yang and Blake."

"So, everyone just needs to remember that we need passage for eight people and horses," Ruby said getting everyone's attention. "Around noon we should all meet up at the stables and talk about any ships they find."

* * *

"Is it just me, or are Ruby and Weiss closer than before?" Yang asked Blake as they left the third ship that wasn't taking passengers.

"This must've been on your mind for a while," Blake said as she stepped up next to Yang before matching her pace. "I have noticed that they have been spending more time together than before, but I don't think it is that serious."

"But still, it bothers me," Yang said as she began walking towards the next ship.

"Maybe it has something to do with how the past couple weeks have been," Blake said causing Yang to look over and raise an eyebrow. "Think about it, they have been through a lot together. The kidnapping where Weiss saved her. Then Weiss became Ruby's caretaker, so they spent plenty more time together. Even after the ordeal with the demonic possession, they both stayed with each other by the campfire."

"Still…" Yang trailed off as she stopped walking.

"Yang, your sister has a friend, I don't think that is something to be bothered about," Blake said then looked off to the side.

"I guess…" Yang said as she continued to walk towards the next ship with Blake following behind. As she and Blake neared the ship, the captain took notice of the two and crossed the boarding ramp to meet them on the docks. "Hello there, where is this ship heading?"

"Our destination is North Atlas, but we are sailing to South Atlas in order to pick up cargo," the captain said as he looked over Yang. "You seem capable enough, but I'm not hiring new crew."

"No, we're not looking for a job," Blake said to him as she walked forward. "We're looking for passage to South Atlas. We have six others and horses, but we are willing to pay for the voyage."

"Well, while we do have space to house horses and would be willing to take on passengers," she said then looked up towards Blake's cat ears, "I am going to have to decline your offer. With the bounty placed on White Fang members, we can't risk taking you along in the possibility of us being attacked."

"What!? You're just going to decline our offer because she's a faunus!" Yang nearly shouted at him causing several crewmates on the ship to lean against the railing in order to listen.

"Hey, hey, I'm sorry but we're just a cargo ship," he said raising his hands in front of himself in response to Yang's glare. "In these harbor towns, people are watching who is going on and off these ships. People are also being more cautious of taking after a couple months ago a White Fang member slaughtered a tavern full of sailors and farmers. Some may see that we are working with the White Fang to transport their members, so they might attack us on the open water. I don't want to risk the lives of my crew."

Yang was about to yell again, but Blake reached over grabbing her arm. "Yang, stop, let's just go," she said causing Yang to calm down a little before sighing. "Come on, we can find another ship."

"Fine," Yang said before shooting the captain a final glare with her eyes flashing red. Then she turned and began walking away from the ship.

After Yang stormed off, she started heading away from the docks. "Yang stop, we need to find a ship. I know it's terrible, but it is my fault," Blake said as she followed her. "We need to continue searching before we have to meet up with the others."

"And how can we find one if each is just going to tell us to leave?" Yang asked her.

"Well, maybe I can wear a disguise," she suggested. "I could wear my hood to hide my ears, but they would probably want me to take it off."

"Wait, I have an idea," Yang said as she reached into one of her pouches on her belt causing Blake to raise an eyebrow. "I've had this for a while. It bound my magic tome before I used it to learn magic." A couple seconds later, she pulled out a small black roll of fabric. "Here we go, stand still." She then held one end of the fabric letting it unroll revealing a long black ribbon. Blake stood still as Yang tied the ribbon around her ears. "And there we go."

Blake reached up and touched the ribbon around her ears. "Ok, so do you think me wearing a bow will hide my identity enough that people will think I'm normal?"

"Blake, you already are normal," Yang said placing her hands on Blake's shoulders. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

 **Alright, so, I believe a relevant question is if the Bumblebee ship is setting sail or not. If so, it's not really anytime soon, so like fluff for roughly 45 chapters before a scene happens that will need to be rewritten. But anyway, we get to start Bumblebee fluff for a bit. Also,** **I had been planning Blake's bow since chapter 16 when Ozpin gave Ruby a yellow tome bound in a black ribbon.**

 **Yang is starting to be suspicious of the adorkable duo, though, are Weiss and Ruby actually going to tell her or is she going to find out on her own. I actually and tempted to have it be an accidental finding for her just because her reaction would be interesting.**

 **Anyway, next chapter we actually get things done, mostly just them getting a ship. Oh, someone will come into to the story soon. Is it a good guy? A bad guy? Sadistic parasol wielding mute? Fast talking scholar? Knight turned farmer turned knight again? Monkey boy thief? Well, I'm not doing a big chapter including all of them, but one will come into the next chapter.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	48. The Frigate

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. Well, this chapter was relatively short, but a bit informative.**

 **So, from the reviews I have found out two things: people want Yang to find out about Weiss and Ruby accidentally, and that they want the Bumblebee romance to begin. One reviewer pointed out that Yang and Blake's romance added at this point would make no sense and would feel rushed. Well, I don't intend to bring that romance in any time soon because I have a pretty set path for what I'm doing. What happens after that is still up in the air, so Bumblebee is still possible.**

 **Also, people have made the joke about them searching for ships while their relationship 'ship' is being set up. I actually didn't intend on that, but hey, if it makes me funny, then I'll take it.**

 **On to reviews.**

 **KibaPT: The ship may set sail, but not any time soon.**

 **aidansidhe: Well *chuckles* when has Yang ever shown that she can ever overreact in violent outbursts.**

 **Yaksher: If it was Tai, it would be blacksmith stayed blacksmith and still blacksmith. Part of the lore in this world I've been trying to make is that Tai was doing his blacksmithing apprenticeship and joined Summer, Qrow and Raven making weapons and armor for them while they traveled. There is one other character in this series besides Ruby who has spent plenty of time on farms.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Well, being a tease is just a part about being the master of suspense. Also, I will definitely take time with the Bumblebee romance if I do it.**

 **iamking: And this meta humor I accidentally did. I'm already thinking of how she finds out accidentally.**

 **RememberStars: I am the master of suspense, and also if the ship does set sail, it won't be for a while.**

 **(Sassy?) Guest: Oh yeah, Pyrrha is scary, which is why I kind of waited so long before bringing her in. Also, your comment is the reason why I'm actually bringing in two character which meant that I needed to make even more characters. The Bumblebee relationship would be just a fun thing later in the story. If I do it, it won't just be some cheesy thing that just comes out of nowhere. Personally, I like the Bumblebee ship, and there will be chemistry in there if I do it, but it wouldn't happen in three chapters.**

 **tallon2692: I don't even think I've read the whole thing more than once.**

 **TheHuntress77: I will not claim to be the best writer, so I would not doubt that I misspelled or forgot plenty of words. I'm trying to go back and fix them. As I've said earlier, Bumblebee may happen, but there is a possibility of not happening. If it does, it won't happen soon. Also, I can send you some tips on writing fight scenes. I'll take a peek at your story and PM you in a few days.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Ok, so how about that ship," Ruby said to Weiss as she pointed at a nearby ship. "It seems like it would be large enough to take us."

"That actually is not going to work. See that emblem," Weiss said pointing at the standing bear symbol on the flag of the ship, "that is the emblem of the Ursidae trading company which primarily trades between Vale and Vacuo, so they are probably not going to South Atlas."

"So, what kind of ship should we look for?" Ruby asked slumping over. "We've been at this forever."

"Well, trade with Atlas is a very profitable business, which means the ship would probably be larger," Weiss said as she placed her hand under her chin while thinking. "It would also have decent defenses to fend off attacks and aquatic grimm. It could actually be compared to a military ship in all honesty because some of the larger trading companies, along with my father's own, would have military escorts."

"So, you're saying we should look for a ship like that," Ruby said pointing off behind Weiss.

She turned around before looking to where Ruby was pointing. In the distance was a large white frigate. Even at where she was, Weiss could see the ship was tall and the broadside had two rows of gun ports that more than likely had cannons prepared to fire at a moment's notice. She then looked up and saw on the flag a large blue snowflake emblem. "You have got to be kidding me."

* * *

"So, Jaune," Pyrrha said getting the bard's attention.

"Yes?" Jaune asked her looking back at her. "Did you need something?"

"No, no, I was just thinking," Pyrrha said picking up her pace in order to keep up with him. "We've clearly gotten off on the wrong foot, and I was hoping we could change that. I've noticed that the others have been kind of scared of me."

"Well, you've been pretty terrifying," Jaune told her as he was just about to approach a ship, but then it suddenly started sailing away from the docks. "I mean, you've been threatening by making some comments while cleaning blood off your weapon. You made yourself known to us by throwing a spear into our group, nearly hitting one of our members, and then basically said you were going to fight us in order to take Weiss away. So, how would you suggest we 'get off the wrong foot?'"

"Well, I don't really know," she said stopping before looking around the harbor causing him to stop and turn to her. "I haven't done much else my entire life other than train and fight, so I'm not that great at dealing with others in a normal sense." She then looked back at Jaune and saw the sword on his belt. "You seem to be relatively proficient with a sword and shield. I could teach you how to be a much better fighter, which could help you out in the future."

"Thanks, but I'll pass," Jaune said surprising her. "I'm a bard, not a knight. After all this is over, I intend to travel back home or even go to cities playing my music. So, I wouldn't have any need to learn more."

"Huh, interesting, usually most people would jump at the opportunity to learn under me," she said as Jaune turned away from her.

"Well, most people are not me," he said walking away causing her to follow him. "Come on, we have little time before we're supposed to meet up with everyone."

* * *

"Hello there," the frigate captain greeted Weiss and Ruby as they approached the ship. "What business do you have here?"

"We and a couple of friends are travelling to South Atlas, and we're searching for any ships that can take us," Weiss said as she looked away from the captain hoping he wouldn't recognize her. "Where are you heading?"

"Well, coincidentally, we are travelling to South Atlas and we're leaving soon, but we are not taking passengers at the moment," he said as he reached to his belt to pull out a rag to wipe his hands. "We would normally take on passengers, but unfortunately our military escort had been sent back to Fort Mantle by order of the king, so without the protection of the knights we can't ensure the protection of our passengers."

"I can assure you, we don't need protection," Weiss said as she rested her hand on the hilt of her rapier.

"Interesting," he said resting his chin in his hand as he looked Weiss over seeing her weapon, shield, and armor. Then he looked past her and looked at Ruby keeping an eye on the large scythe on her back. "You two don't seem to be strangers to conflict. How many are travelling with you, and are they each fighters like yourselves?"

"There are eight of us," Ruby answered him. "Most of us are proficient at combat, but we have one bard who at least knows how to handle himself in a fight. We also have horses we would need to travel with."

"Well, animals are an easy thing to transport, so they are no problem," he said then scratched his chin while thinking for a few moments. "Seven trained fighters and one decent one, it would not sound like a bad deal. How do you intend to pay for the trip?"

"We could pay you in gold," Ruby said as she started reaching into her pack for her coin purse, but Weiss raised a hand signalling for her to stop.

"I'm sure we don't have to pay you the full amount right now," Weiss said as she glanced up at the flag. "Tell me, do you work directly for the Schnee Trading Company, or are you part of a trading company that works alongside the Schnee Training Company."

"I work directly for the Schnee Trading Company, but only as a ship captain, so don't expect me to personally know any of the royals," he said then raised an eyebrow at Weiss. "What are you proposing."

"Yeah, Weiss, what are you proposing?" Ruby asked Weiss loud enough so only she could hear her. "He wouldn't know if you were a princess or not, so he probably not believe you even if you told him."

"Don't worry," Weiss said as she reached into one of her side pouches before pulling out a metal circle that had a small handle on the end that easily fit into the palm of her hand. She then held the small handle in her hand to show the snowflake symbol on the flat end of the circle to the captain. "A person of my status is expected to carry one of these with them in order to deal with merchants of the Schnee Trading Company. If you were to allow me to write a letter and seal it, then I'm sure you can request any reasonable reward for our passage the next time you stop at the Schnee Trading Company headquarters in Northern Atlas."

"Who are you to have the Seal of the Schnee Trading Company?" he asked her as he approached her in order to inspect the seal.

"That doesn't matter that much," Weiss said as she handed him the seal so he could further inspect it.

"Well, this is authentic," he said handing the seal back to Weiss. "I'm going to guess that you are a member of some noble family that does business with the Schnee Trading Company. I'm going to go out on a limb and agree to your deal. The seal seems real, but there still is a possibility you are not who you say you are." He then stuck out his hand for Weiss to shake it. "It's a deal."

"Alright," Weiss said as she shook his hand, "we are going to gather the rest of our friends and return shortly, don't leave without us."

* * *

Weiss and Ruby made their way back to the stables and were greeted by the sight of Ren and Nora already there waiting along with Jaune and Pyrrha. They were all saddling up their horses putting their items into the saddlebags.

"Hello," Jaune greeted the two as they approached. "I hope you two had better luck than we did. The ships we went to were either heading to Vacuo or Mistral, or were just leaving as soon as we neared."

"Nora and I did find a small ship travelling to South Atlas," Ren said to everyone getting their attention, "but the ship was too small. Then Nora found a cat and she decided to play with it instead of helping me find another ship."

"I said I was sorry," Nora defended herself, "but the kitty was staring at me with its big blue eyes. I had to pet it."

"It's fine," Ruby said as she looked around. "Where's Yang? I thought we said we were meeting back here around noon?"

"Noon is a general term," a new voice said as it approached causing everyone to turn and see Yang approaching with Blake behind her. "Either way, we're here."

"Why is Blake wearing a bow?" Weiss asked as she saw the change to the faunus's appearance.

"Apparently, ships are not taking on any faunus passengers on the off chance that they might be members of the White Fang," Blake answered her. "After we were rejected by a ship captain, Yang came up with the idea of hiding my ears with a bow. We then got a few offers for transportation and they didn't seem to notice I was a faunus. It feels a little uncomfortable, but I think I can manage."

"It looks cute on you," Yang said giving her a big smile. "I'm actually glad I kept that ribbon since Vale."

"Yang, I am an assassin trained to kill quickly and quietly, I'm not supposed to be 'cute,'" Blake said shooting her a small glare only causing the brawler to laugh a little. "Well, with that aside, did anyone else find a possible transport."

"Ruby and I found a frigate that is leaving today," Weiss said to everyone. "It is a ship owned by my family's trading company, and since I have this," she pulled out the seal from her pouch, "we were able to make a deal that wouldn't cost us anything except maybe helping protect the ship."

"What is this," Yang asked as she took the seal from Weiss's hand before she even noticed it, "and why have you never brought this out before?"

"That's the seal of the Schnee Trading Company," Weiss said as she snatched the seal away from her. "Only members of the royal family and powerful business partners are able to have these. I've never brought this out before because we've never been in a situation that had the Schnee Trading Company involved."

"But-" Yang was about to ask before Ruby cut her off.

"Anyway, we should get going, the ship is leaving soon," she said getting a few nod from the others.

* * *

"You weren't kidding about your group. I'm almost tempted to take on other passengers for the voyage," the ship captain said to Weiss and Ruby as he watched the others lead their horses onto the ship. "I swear, I've heard of a knight from Mistral matching the redhead's description."

"When are we setting sail?" Weiss asked him causing the man to stop trying to figure out who Pyrrha was. "We are in kind of hurry to get to Atlas."

"Well, we should be able to leave as soon as all of your horses are situated underdeck," he responded. "I still need to check with my crew and make sure we have our supplies."

"Ok, we'll get out of your way then," Weiss told him as he simply nodded in response before walking away to one of the boarding ramps. Weiss then turned to Ruby who was petting the side of Chestnut's face as the horse rested its head on her shoulder. "Well, we can go now. We just need to get these two into the boat."

"Yeah, come on Chestnut, time to go on the ship," Ruby said trying to move back and free her shoulder only to have the horse take a step forward and rest its head on her shoulder again. "Come on, we need to go now." She then took another step back only to have the same thing happen again.

"Great, now your horse is being needy," Weiss said as she looked over to Snowflake who was simply watching this happen.

"Don't tell me you're getting jealous of Chestnut?" she said looking over to the princess.

"What? I'm not jealous of the horse. Why would I ever be jealous of the horse?" Weiss asked her in mild annoyance.

"Well, Chestnut's not the only one who likes to rest her head on my shoulder," Ruby told her as she gave Weiss a playful grin.

"Really? I've only done that once," Weiss said then paused. "Ok, maybe more than once, but that does not mean I'm jealous of Chestnut."

"Oh yeah, I think she's jealous," Ruby said to her horse with a small giggle causing Weiss to groan. Moments later, the two could hear small cawing approach the area catching their attention. Then a large black red eyed crow flew up to them landing on a nearby barrel cawing at them. "Shadow? Wait, Shadow is smaller." The crow angrily cawed at Ruby because of that remark and hopped up and down before tilting its head down to a small paper wrapped around its leg.

"Ok, so this definitely one of your uncle's birds," Weiss said as she reached for the message only to have the crow peck at her hand before turning to Ruby and then pointing back down at the message. "These birds must really not like me, jeez," she said as she rubbed her hand.

"Well, I guess they are the most used to me from my time working at the farm," Ruby said as she took the message and began reading it out loud. "'Ruby, I'm sorry to say that Shadow will not be travelling with you and your friends. He is assisting Glynda with sending messages.'" She turned the strip of paper around and continued. "'This crow is named… Crow. He's going to go with you to Atlas. Take care of him. -Qrow.'"

"Qrow's crow named Crow?" Weiss asked raising an eyebrow before looking to the bird who appeared to be groaning in annoyance. "Was he drunk when he named that bird?"

"No, I actually think it's the opposite," Ruby said as she held the paper up so Weiss could read it. "Qrow's handwriting is never this neat. I don't think I've ever seen it not jagged." Crow looked at her before angrily cawing at the two before flying off the barrel and flew towards the crow's nest.

"Ok, so we just need to watch that bird," Weiss said as she grabbed Snowflake's reins.

"Yeah, I kinda miss Shadow though," Ruby said then began leading Chestnut onto the ship. As the two made their way onto the deck, Weiss took a step before suddenly falling on her back. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," she said as she began picking herself off the ground while looking at what caused her to fall. Further ahead of her feet, Weiss saw a banana peel on the ground with a boot print smashed into it. "What kind of a person leaves a banana peel laying around? Actually, why does someone even have a banana here? They're out of season and don't normally grow in Vale."

"Maybe someone brought it over from Vacuo," Ruby suggested as she helped Weiss back up to her feet. "We should bring the horses below deck now. We can worry about foreign fruit later."

* * *

As Crow flew away from Weiss and Ruby, he started looking around the area. Managing to not see anything out of the ordinary, he flew up to the central mast and landed in the empty crow's nest.

The bird suddenly lurched over as black smoke started flowing off its body. Its legs started growing larger and longer while losing its bird tail started turning red while moving up its body as the whole bird started growing bigger. Its feathers began retreating back into its skin that was now becoming a dull grey. The beak started growing taller and larger while the point pulled back changing color to a more pale one. Moments later, the smoke stopped flowing out of the figure revealing Qrow there coughing as he picked himself up off the ground.

"I really hate doing that," Qrow said as he stood up cracking his back before rolling his shoulders. "Damn Ozpin, making me shapeshift to get here. The least he could've done was give my animal form a better name instead of just 'Crow.'"

* * *

 **And enter deus ex seal. I wanted to bring in Weiss's connection to her family's trading company, and then I had the idea for her making a deal with a trading vessel. Also, did you guys know that frigates existed in the late middle ages? They didn't only appear during the golden age of piracy. I guess it makes sense because the ship needs to appear for a time before they became the giant warships we see in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.**

 **Oh yeah, Qrow is a mage. I've actually been planning this since Qrow revealed his semblance was bad luck instead of shapeshifting in the show. Now his semblance may still be related tot he shapeshifting since crows are traditionally signs of bad luck. So, I'll have Qrow explain how his magic works later in the series because I am running out of time.**

 **I kinda laughed while writing the scene of Weiss being jealous of Chestnut. My family actually raised horses for a while and I can say that they are really nice animals. Though, there are also assholes among them, that I'll admit.**

 **So, a random banana peel on the ground. I wonder who could've dropped it there?**

 **Anyway, I have to go soon. One of my friends returned from deployment and we're having a party that I think has already started while I'm writing this.**

 **So, have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	49. The Beginning of the Voyage

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose, which I think was decent with exposition, but I need to get back into the fights soon.**

 **So, I set a couple more links on my profile, but knowing my luck the links are going to redirect you guys back to my profile, which is why I included the actual urls for links that haven't been working. One of the links is to the Tv Tropes page for this story that Knowledgeseeker66 has been making. So if you guys want to see the tropes that are in this story, feel free to check out the webpage and add in any tropes that are missing.**

 **Reviews:**

 **Yaksher: I thought I said I was bringing him back into the story. Well, either way, another one from the list I put in there is coming into the story, so I wasn't lying.**

 **KibaPT: I had a black lab who was an inside dog and craved attention, so when she wanted attention she would stick her cold wet nose into your hand.**

 **robyork1690: Well...**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: He might, but not soon. Weiss is taking a chance here, but she since she is heading to Fort Mantle to see her father, she is really close to exposing her secret. The main reason she doesn't is that she is still trying to not draw attention to herself.**

 **DominicGrimm: Qrow's crow, named Crow, who is really Qrow, sitting in Qrow's crow's nest on the S.S. Crow. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?**

 **tallon2692: I give everyone a shout out unless I contact them directly with a PM.**

 **TheHuntress77: Bumblebee is one my favorite otp's too, but not as much as WhiteRose, though, for a while I did toy with the idea of writing a Bumblebee story.**

 **(Sassy) Guest: Blunt transitions are my thing, which is kind of evident in this chapter. See, I would not have to guess you were Sassy Guest if you would change the name when you're writing the review. Blake and Yang's relationship is going to right now be them becoming supportive friends before possibly going to the full romance. I've said this before, but I have a set path for what is going to happen till Fort Mantle and some of what happens after. Looking at the plan, there isn't much room for Bumblebee to happen in a natural way without it feeling extremely rushed.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Shortly after Ruby and Weiss brought their horses below deck, the ship began sailing. "Alright," the ship captain said as he approached the group, "we set sail and should arrive at our destination in three to four days, if we have favorable winds. The weather should stay normal for the voyage, so the crew wouldn't need any additional help with sailing. The sleeping quarters for passengers are below deck. You are allowed to freely explore the ship, except for the cargo holds. Please refrain from annoying the crew members when they are working."

"Thank you, I assure you, we won't be a bother," Weiss said as she turned to the ship captain.

"Very well, if you become bored, feel free to fish. We have rods and bait below deck, just ask one of the crew members where to find it," he said then turned away from the group and headed back up to the quarterdeck.

"So, what are we going to do for four days?" Yang asked everyone as they stood in a circle.

"I'm sure we could find a table or something to play Wicked Grace," Ren suggested causing Yang to groan and Jaune to dry heave. Everyone immediately turned to Jaune and saw him leaning against the railing with his face a couple shades paler. "Jaune, are you ok?"

"I'm fin- hrk-" he paused raising a hand to his mouth and the other in front of himself to stop the others from coming closer. He then gulped before lowering his hands. "I'm not exactly the biggest fan of ships. I'm just going to stay near the railing in case I vomit."

"Ok, I'm gonna stand over here," Yang said as she took a few steps away from the bard. "Why didn't you mention this to us before?"

"Well, it's not exactly something I'm proud of," he said then dry heaved for a second then turned to lean over railing. He paused for a moment before taking a deep breath then turned back to everyone. "I really don't like sailing."

"I'm with you there," Weiss said as she leaned against a nearby barrel. "Though, the last time I went sailing for more than one day, it was from Atlas to Vale, and the ship ended up going through a storm. I hated the constant rocking back and forth was terrible, and at one point the ship nearly capsized." That immediately caused Jaune to turn around and vomit causing everyone to move back in surprise.

"I… wasn't kidding," Jaune said as he turned back wiping the side of his mouth. "I'm just going to find a spot out of sight on the ship and throw up for the next four days." He then held his stomach as he walked away from the group.

"Ok…" Yang trailed off as she watched Jaune disappear. "So, what is everyone else going to do."

"I'm uh… going to sit down somewhere," Nora said in a surprisingly dull tone causing everyone to look at Nora. They then saw her standing there with one hand holding her other arm which was clenched in a tight fist. "I'll see you guys later." Before anyone could ask her anything, Nora turned away from everyone and walked away.

"Uhh, Ren, is she ok?" Pyrrha asked him as Ren raised an eyebrow at the direction his childhood friend went.

"I don't really know," he said then started walking away from them. "I'll talk with her."

"Ok, so what are you going to do, Pyrrha?" Weiss asked the knight who was now leaning against the railing.

"I'm probably just going to wait around until we land in Atlas," she replied as she crossed her arms and looked out into the open water. "I enjoy travelling by ship, I really like the ocean. It's quite relaxing."

"Well, I'm going to probably going to find a quiet spot to rest after stopping by my gear to drop off my armor," Ruby said as she began taking off her gauntlets while walking away.

"I'm going to do the same," Weiss said as she started taking off her gauntlets and following Ruby.

"Blake?" Yang asked as she looked for the faunus only to see nothing. Then suddenly, Blake dropped from the main mast landing on her hands and feet like a cat with a fishing pole in her mouth and her eyes wide open focused and looking around. "What are you doing?"

Blake opened her mouth letting the fishing rod land in her hand. "Fishing. As soon as the captain mentioned it, I ran below deck," she said as she pulled a piece of bait from her side pouch and hooked it. "I'm going to catch a giant tuna."

"Sure you are, kitten," Yang said causing Blake to shoot her a quick glare before running to the railing as she cast the line before sitting down having her feet dangle over the edge.

"Everyone has their own thing, I guess," Pyrrha remarked as she looked at the overly excited Blake with a smile. "I'm going to find the fishing poles and cast a line a few times." She then walked away from Yang and Blake to the door leading to the lower decks.

"You must really like fish," Yang said as she walked over and leaned against the railing.

"I haven't had fish in so long," she said as she looked down to her fishing line hoping to see some kind of fish biting it. "Growing up, my parents would purchase salmon and tuna from the market whenever the fishermen brought in a big haul. Sometimes my parents would even buy all the fish in the market and hold a party for all of Kuo Kuana back on Menagerie. It got to the point that it became a holiday everyone looked forward to. I was eight at the time, but the last party they had, someone else bought all the fish and brought it to the party. So instead, my dad bought alcohol for the same amount he would have on fish, and everyone seemed to have a really great time."

"That sounds like more fun than my uncle's harvest party," Yang remarked as she sat down on the deck with her back on the railing.

"Yeah, it was probably the happiest time we had on that island," Blake said as her cat ears started to droop a little which was even noticeable through the bow.

Blake was silent for a bit being lost in her thoughts that Yang noticed as she looked over to her and saw her knuckles were turning white from gripping the fishing pole. Yang then reached over and playfully punched her shoulder snapping Blake back to attention. "Come on, let's catch you that tuna," Yang said giving her a smile.

* * *

"Nora, where did you go?" Ren asked out loud as he searched the bow of the ship. Nearing the front of the ship, he suddenly tripped landing on the deck. When he looked for what tripped him, Ren saw a familiar hammer's shaft lying parallel to the deck coming from behind several barrels. "Nora?"

"Yes?" a quiet voice could be heard from the barrels. He walked forward and looked behind the barrels only to find Nora sitting on the head of her hammer in the fetal position with her knees pulled tightly to her chest.

"What's wrong?" he asked her as he moved a nearby barrel in order to sit down next to her. "You're not acting like yourself."

"I'm fine," she said as she lowered her head in order to rest it on her knees.

Ren sat there for a moment as he looked her over, then he noticed that Nora's whole body was trembling. "No, you're not," he said then reached over wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Please, tell me what's wrong."

"I thought I could handle being on a ship again," Nora said as she leaned into him, "but every second I'm reminded of what we went through. Those weeks we spent chained up and starving in that slaver's ship. E-ever since we were freed I've been trying to forget everything, b-but I-I just can't." She tried speaking more, but she started sobbing pulling her legs in even tighter.

"Shh, shh, it's ok," he reassured her as he turned to wrap both arms around her in a comforting hug. "Things are different now. We aren't children anymore, and we can protect ourselves."

Nora was silent for a while before she stopped trembling, then she let go of her legs letting them relax before she reached over to hug Ren keeping her head in his shoulder. "Thank you," she said as she gripped tighter on him.

* * *

"It feels so good to be out of that armor," Ruby said as she stretched while she and Weiss walked to the upper deck. Ruby was now wearing a red tunic and black pants along with simple shoes instead of her armor and chainmail. She even switched the cloak Taiyang made with the magic chainmail with her original cloth one.

Weiss was wearing a similar outfit consisting of a white tunic and light blue pants along with the simple shoes. "I agree," she said rolling her shoulder. "I've been wearing that armor for so long that now that I'm not wearing it, I feel much lighter. Though, it is good armor."

"Yeah, but we don't have to wear the armor at all times," Ruby remarked as she looked around the ship and saw Yang and Blake excitedly pulling on a fishing rod. "I wonder what they caught?"

"Considering the luck they've been having for the past few minutes, it's either driftwood or seaweed," Pyrrha said getting their attention from behind them. As they turned around, Ruby and Weiss saw Pyrrha sitting on a nearby crate with several pieces of driftwood and seaweed by her feet. "I haven't had that much luck either."

"Should we get some poles?" Ruby asked as she turned to Weiss. She then saw as both Yang and Blake tugged on the fishing pole only to pull out a large tangle of driftwood and seaweed causing both of them to groan.

"Maybe at a different part of the trip," Weiss answered her after she saw Blake fall to her knees and Yang place a hand on her back. "We could practice your fencing, you are getting better at it."

Before Ruby could respond there was a lot of crashing below deck. Ruby and Weiss reached for their weapons only to grasp air causing them to realize that they had left them with their gear below deck. Pyrrha saw that and dropped her fishing pole before drawing her sword and shield and stepping in front of Weiss.

"Hey! Hey!" a man nearly shouted as the door to the lower deck was thrown open. Three crew members were seen holding a man with short spiky blonde hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a white and tan robe with the right sleeve tucked in the robe while the left was wide and loose over his arm. The man was also wearing dark blue pants, a black beaded necklace, and had his hands and wrists wrapped in a bandages. "Let go of me!"

"You're lucky we're not just throwing you overboard, you stowaway," one of the crew members told him as they continued to struggle with him.

"Son of a-" Pyrrha said as she lowered her weapons. From above everyone, Qrow flew down in bird form before landing on Ruby's shoulder in order to watch everything that was happening.

"What is going on down there?" the ship captain asked as he walked over to the quarterdeck railing to see the commotion below.

"We found a stowaway down in the cargo hold with a bunch of bananas, captain," the crew member said as he looked up at the captain. "What should we do with him?" While this was happening, Yang and Blake took notice of the commotion and started walking over.

"You idiots, let him go," the captain said surprising the three as they slowly let go of the man. "You guys do know it's bad luck to mess with a monk, right? Who are you and what are you doing on my ship?"

"Uhh, yeah," the man said as he cracked his back then placed his hands together before bowing to the captain. "My name is Sun, and I am a travelling monk who needed to travel to South Atlas. I apologize, but I did not have the money to pay for the trip, so I hid in the cargo hold. I do hope you do not throw me overboard."

"I respect the monasteries, and would not harm one of their monks," the captain said to Sun. "You are free to stay aboard my ship, just don't cause any problems."

"I won't," Sun said giving the captain a bow as he simply nodded before returning to the ship's wheel. He then looked to the other crew members who walked away from Sun while grumbling. "Ok, that went well."

"Uhh…" Ruby trailed off as she looked to Sun who was beginning to turn to them.

As he turned to face Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha, Pyrrha walked forward towards the monk. She then reached into the back of his robe before pulling out a long blonde tail before tugging the appendage. "Gah! Who the hell-" he shouted in pain as he turned around and froze as he looked into the scowl on Pyrrha's face. "P-Pyrrha, hey, what are you doing here?" he asked trying to ignore the pain as his tail moved back into his robe.

"I'm on a mission, Wukong. What are you doing here?" Pyrrha asked him as she crossed her arms in front of herself.

"Well, I needed to go to South Atlas to meet with my team, and this ship is going there," Sun explained as he took a couple steps back.

"You know him?" Yang asked Pyrrha as Blake watched Sun's tail moved under his robe..

"Unfortunately," she said causing Sun to look somewhat offended. "Don't be fooled, he's not a monk, he's actually an adventurer. He's part of an adventuring team that is based in Mistral and has the backing of a noble family. So he and his team are commonly seen at Fort Haven when they aren't participating in a mission. We've ran into each other a couple of times."

"She's still a bit mad about the time Neptune fell from a wall crashing into her in the middle of her training," Sun said causing Pyrrha to scowl again. "She doesn't like my team, but she really does not like Neptune."

"Just because his family is of noble status does not mean everyone needs to give him a free pass," Pyrrha said then sighed.

"Neptune, Neptune, I swear I've heard that name before," Weiss said to herself as she placed her hand under her chin. "Is his last name Vasilias?"

"Well, yes, but he doesn't like going by that name in public," Sun answered her. "How could you possibly know his last name just by knowing his first? He only ever goes by that name when his family forces him to attend parties."

"Well, I just happen to know his name," Weiss answered him as she took a few steps back.

"Or you are some kind of noble whose family has strong ties to the Schnee Trading Company," Sun said causing everyone to raise an eyebrow at how he would know this. Before they could ask, he answered, "News spreads on a ship real fast. Signing a letter with the STC seal will do that. What, are you some kind of princess?"

"W-what? No, c-come on Ruby, l-let's go work on your fencing," Weiss sputtered out as she grabbed Ruby's arm and started walking away from everyone.

"Ok then," Ruby said as she let herself be dragged off by the princess. Qrow was a bit confused, but managed to stay perched on Ruby's shoulder while Weiss dragged her off.

"What's wrong with her?" Sun asked as Ruby and Weiss both disappeared from view.

"Well, you know how… nobles are when they travel," Yang said forcing herself not to let Weiss's status as a princess to slip out. "They don't exactly like others acknowledging their status."

"Oh, I know," he said then chuckled to himself, "I have plenty of stories about Neptune, though the funniest ones are when we have to convince him to travel by ship."

* * *

 **There we go, Sun is in the story. For those who thought that I was going to bring in Sun in a couple chapters, come on, this is me. If I put a deliberate foreshadow of another character, they're going to be in the next chapter. Then again, Blake did take a bit to join the group, though, she was technically in the story since chapter 1.**

 **I figured since Sun's weapons are a staff and nunchucks, I would just have him appear like a monk, and half wearing his robe would show off dem abs. I also have the basis for the rest of SSSN figured out, which will be revealed later.**

 **Though, Neptune is the son of a noble family, which has some ties to the Schnee family and attends their parties, which is why Weiss knew who he was. So she and him have a past, but it hasn't been significant enough for her to have feeling for him like in the show.**

 **The next chapter is going to be interesting. It also will be the 50th chapter of this story, and since I've already done an extremely long serious chapter with a lot of action and plot, the next one will be different.**

 **Blake has major intent on catching a tuna. I haven't done much with Blake being like a cat, so the next chapter will be funny. Also, I figured that I would give some backstory on her part.**

 **I also figured that since I haven't done much with Ren and Nora and their pasts as slaves, I would put some in. It wouldn't make much sense for Nora to have that sudden of a personality change from the silent person constantly being tortured to bubbly and energetic overnight. Also, it was a good Renora moment in my opinion.**

 **A couple more things are going to happen on the ship trip. The next chapter should have a bunch in it, but I'm thinking of having this trip be one or two more chapters, though I'm leaning towards one.**

 **I am going to take this moment and say that next chapter may not be posted on time next week. I have several things to do for college including papers and an exam this week, so I might not have enough time to write a chapter. There is a possibility that I will post, but it's unlikely.**

 **So, have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	50. Some Birds

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter. I'm sorry I didn't get to post anything last week, but my schedule didn't really allow me to write. Just as a heads up, I probably won't be able to post another chapter next week. It's finals time, so I probably won't have time.**

 **So, like I said, this is finals time and I have papers to write and homework to study for, so I'll keep the ANs brief. I'm a bit tired at the moment.**

 **Reviews:**

 **KibaPT: I'm already working on how Neptune will show his fear later.**

 **TheHuntress77: Arkos, Renora, and whatever the name for the pairing between Qrow and Summer is. Sun will be a thief, but there isn't much time to show it right now.**

 **robyork1690: Well, when you foreshadow someone with produce, they'll probably be introduced soon.**

 **Yaksher: She will be a bit more like a cat in this chapter.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Neptune does kind of seem like a douche. I do like doing character development, but I feel like I kind of have been doing a bit much of that lately, so sadly this one won't have much character development besides a bit background information on Sun.**

 **iamking: And for every chapter that has great pacing, there is one that seems to start off with good pacing, then everything is thrown to left field.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Qrow was having an interesting time watching Weiss teach Ruby how to fence. Right now they were sparring with wooden sticks on the upper level of the quarterdeck at the back of the ship. At one point the captain looked up to see what the two were doing, but Qrow cawed in his direction while flapping his wings.

"You're getting better," Weiss said as Ruby took a step forward striking only to have Weiss parry the stick and step forward to lightly slap Ruby's back with her stick, "but you're not at the same level as me."

' _Just you watch, princess,'_ Qrow thought with a little chuckle that sounded like short quiet caws. ' _Ruby was like this in the beginning when I was teaching her. She'll be at your level in no time if you're a good teacher.'_

"Ow," Ruby said as she rubbed her back while straightening up. She turned around and dropped her arm before getting back into a fighting stance while holding the sick in her left hand. "Come on, again."

"Ok, come at me," Weiss said with a smirk as she got back into a fighting stance.

Everything seemed to slow down for Ruby as she lunged forward with a strike aimed at Weiss, but she easily parried it again. As Weiss stepped forward and started to strike, Ruby quickly planted one foot on the ground to bolt at the back railing. She then planted one foot on the railing before jumping and striking at Weiss who was still mid-strike. Ruby then watched as Weiss slowly turned her head to face Ruby as she was in mid air. Weiss's was surprised at Ruby's action, but she flicked her right hand causing a wall of ice to shoot up from the deck blocking Ruby's stick.

Ruby collided with the ice wall causing it to break as she flew through it colliding with Weiss. Then everything sped back up as the couple fell onto the deck. "I thought we agreed no magic?" Ruby asked as she looked at Weiss.

"Well, we also agreed no crazy speed, and who cheated first?" Weiss asked her causing the two to be silent for a moment as the two glared at each other for a second. Then they suddenly burst out laughing.

' _Sure, no magic is completely reasonable, but Ruby's speed is natural to her,'_ Qrow thought as he closed his eyes and began laughing which sounded like short caws. ' _Her fighting style relies on her speed, so to force a mage to use their magic in a sword fight is interesting.'_

What Qrow did not see while his eyes were closed was when the two stopped laughing, Ruby tilted her head down kissing Weiss. The older girl pulled back after a second and looked at a confused Ruby. "I thought we agreed not to do that out in the open?" Weiss asked her causing Qrow to open his eyes and look at the two.

"Well, we're alone right now, I thought-"

"What if someone saw?"

"Who would see?" Ruby asked her as the two began standing back up. "The only one around is Crow and he's just a bird. It's not like he would tell Uncle Qrow."

' _What? What are you talking about? What is going on?'_ Qrow thought as he hopped off the railing and began hopping towards the two. He then let out a couple confused sounding caws as he tilted his head to the side.

"Are you sure?" Weiss asked Ruby as she glaced at Qrow. "His birds seem to be smarter than regular ones. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them could communicate to him."

"Qrow has said several times that he can't speak bird, and I'm pretty sure his birds can't talk like a person," Ruby said confusing Qrow.

' _Yes, I can't speak bird, but I can understand you_ as _a bird,'_ Qrow said out loud, which only sounded like a series of caws drawing the girls' attention.

"Are you _really_ sure?" Weiss asked her gesturing towards Qrow. "It _really_ seems like it understands what we are saying."

' _Yes, I do understand,'_ he said letting out a couple of caws.

* * *

"So…" Sun said as he approached Blake and Yang after he retrieved the red and gold bo staff from the cargo bay, "you're a faunus." Yang and Blake both looked at him and froze, Blake let go of her fishing rod for a second before catching it without looking.

"How did you-"

"The bow kind of gave it away," he said interrupting Blake. "Not many people would wear a bow on their head. Also, you have been acting a bit like a cat since you got on the boat." Before they could ask, he continued. "I haven't spent all my time on the cargo hold. I just went down there for lunch. Banana?" he asked them as he reached into his robe and pulled out a banana.

"Those aren't in season, how do you have one?" Yang asked him.

"I have a bunch in the cargo hold, I should probably move it, and I travel," he explained as he opened the banana and took a bite.

"You aren't going to tell anyone, right?" Blake asked him.

"That I travel, or that I have a bunch of bananas? I think both were discovered when they found me," he said then paused for a moment. "Oh, the faunus thing, right. No, I won't say anything, not really my place to. Also, faunus are not exactly well liked nowadays with the whole White Fang assassination thing and I even heard that a couple of towns away from the harbor town that a faunus killed a tavern full of people. So I completely understand not wanting people to find out that you're a faunus, I even hide my tail in places that don't like us."

The three of them were silent as they looked at each other. Sun sat still in the awkward silence before slowly lifting the banana and taking a bite. "So, Sun, you're an adventurer. What can you do?" Yang asked him.

From further down the railing Pyrrha cast out her line and scoffed. "Here we go," she said as she looked back out to the ocean.

"I am a very skilled Vacuoan fighter trained in the art of Bōjutsu," he began as he held his staff in his right hand getting into a battle stance. "After my training, I went to Mistral and joined a group of adventurers, but that isn't that important. During my training, I trained with many masters and developed a skill so rare, many people believe it to be magic. And that skill is-"

"They already know about chi," Pyrrha interrupted him as she pulled on her line pulling a tuna around the size of her hand. Blake immediately turned to look at the fish on Pyrrha's line and began drooling a little. "You're a little small, back in the water you go. I'm sorry for hooking you." She then pulled the hook out of the tuna's mouth and tossed it back into the ocean. Blake immediately looked shocked at the action letting out a small high pitched whine for a second.

"They know about chi?" Sun asked as he slumped over looking at Pyrrha. "I was going to make a big reveal and show my power."

"Yeah, you guys are _all_ about show," she said as she put bait back on the hook before she cast the line out again. "You can explain how your chi works, because from what I've heard, it's different."

"Wait, it's different?" he asked looking to Blake and Yang.

"Uhh, yeah," Yang said as she looked around the deck for Ren. "Our friend can use his chi to heal small wounds and I believe he was even able to remove a slave sigil."

"Oh, so he is skilled in Qigong," he said looking at the confused two. "It's a school more focused in healing. I learned some of Qigong, but I decided to train in the martial arts application. There is a common theory going around the monks, that grimm are beasts that have no soul, and chi is using a person's soul in special ways. So when chi collides with grimm, the effect causes a lot of damage to a grimm." He then twirled his bo staff for a second before stopping and focusing. Moments later, the gold on the bo staff began to glow. "Gold is a great conduit for chi energy, so monks put it in their weapons to fight better against grimm."

"That's good to know," Yang said then suddenly snapped her fingers and pointed at Blake. "Actually, we have gold, and with my smithing skills, we could put gold on Ren's daggers."

"Unless you're talking about jewelry, that wouldn't work," Sun said getting Yang's attention. "Gold coins aren't really gold. They're only a little gold mixed in with other metals. To make chi conduits, you need pure gold, or at least a mixture close to that."

"Oh," she said lowering her hand.

"Yang, Yang, I got a bite!" Blake exclaimed as she began tugging on her fishing pole. As soon as she began tugging, the fishing pole began to bend. "Hey, a little help!"

"Right! Right!" Yang said as she rushed over and grabbed the top end of the fishing pole. "Ok, we need to pull on the count of three! One, two… three!" They both pulled on the pole and from the water, a giant tuna the length of an arm emerged from the water and flew towards the deck.

"Yang, look at it!" Blake exclaimed as she looked at the tuna with a giant smile and sparkling eyes while drooling.

Suddenly, from above there was a loud demonic screech. Before anyone could look up and see what made the sound, a giant black figure flew down and caught the giant tuna in a flash. Then, there was a loud splash as the black figure flew into the ocean. Moments later, there was another splash as the black figure emerged from the water.

Above the ship, everyone could see a giant nevermore flying around. It had the tuna hanging on the side of its mouth before opening its beak and swallowing the fish all while looking directly at Blake.

"Well that's something you don't see everyday," Sun said as he looked up at the nevermore. "I thought grimm didn't need to eat?"

"It ate my fish…" Blake said in disbelief. "Yang, it ate my fish."

"Yes, I know, but we have a bigger problem at the moment," Yang said as she started pulling her gauntlets on.

"It. Ate. My. Fish," Blake hissed as she reached to her belt and gripped the handle of her katana.

* * *

"Come on, he is probably just hungry," Ruby said as she crouched down to look at Qrow. "Are you hungry, birdie?"

' _When you find out the truth about my shapeshifting, I am so teasing you,'_ Qrow thought to himself as he tilted his head up and looked away from Ruby.

"Ok, he's not hungry," Ruby said as she stood up and looked at Weiss. "I'm sure he doesn't understand us. So," she looked around and over the railing to see Sun talking with Blake and Yang as he pulled a banana out of nowhere, "we seem to be alone, except for our avian friend here." At that comment, Qrow cocked his head now curious.

"I think he can keep a secret," Weiss said looking around making another check just to make sure nobody was around. She then reached over and held Ruby's hand before pulling her close placing one hand on the small of her back.

' _Wait, wait, wait. What is going on here?'_ Qrow cawed as he watched the two.

"Well, let's make use of our privacy before someone comes," Ruby said as she leaned in and kissed Weiss.

Qrow was speechless as he watched the two. The lower half of his beak dropped in a gasp. ' _What?'_

The two separated and Ruby looked over at the bird. "Ok, Crow is shocked. I think he understood that," she said as she stepped toward him.

Qrow held out one wing pointing at her. ' _Ok, explain yourself. Don't you make me shapeshift so you can understand me,'_ he cawed.

"Do you think he doesn't approve of us?" Ruby asked as she stepped behind Weiss.

"I can't believe we're trying to win the approval of a bird," Weiss said looking at her girlfriend.

' _That is besides the point. I don't care that you two are together,'_ Qrow cawed at them hopping a couple times towards them. ' _When did this happen? I was gone for almost two weeks and suddenly you two are together?'_

"We could think of it as a test trial for Yang," Ruby suggested to the princess.

' _Yang doesn't know?'_ Qrow thought and laughed. ' _Now, I'm tempted to stick around for when Yang finds out.'_

"Yang is not a bird," Weiss said then there was a loud demonic screech from the middle of the ship. "Though, if she was a bird, I'd imagine she would sound like that." Weiss and Ruby both walked over to the railing in time to see a giant nevermore fly out of the water and eat a large fish. "I thought grimm didn't need to eat." She was silent for a moment thinking if she's ever seen a grimm eat anything. "Huh,' she shrugged, "we should probably help." Weiss reached for her rapier only to grasp at air. "Right, our weapons."

"I'll get them, you go to the main deck and wait for me," Ruby said as she quickly vaulted over the railing to the quarterdeck.

' _Wait, no!'_ Qrow shouted in a loud caw as he took flight to chase after her. As he managed to take off, Ruby had vaulted over the quarterdeck railing and ran into the door leading below deck. ' _I'm not the best at flying tricks, but here goes nothing.'_ He flew over the quarterdeck and dived at the hatch in the middle of the deck while tucking in his wings. Managing to fly in through the hatch, Qrow immediately opened his wings to continue flying just as Ruby ran past him. ' _She's not a mage, if Ruby touches the crystal, she'll be affected by Weiss's magic,'_ he thought as he flapped his wings again in order to turn and dive through the hatch in the floor. Managing to make it to the mid-deck, Qrow looked around and saw Ruby nearing the packs. ' _Ruby! Stop!'_ he cawed trying to get Ruby to not grab the rapier.

"Ok, scythe," she said securing the weapon on her back. Then she grabbed her crossbow attaching it to the back of her belt. "Where did Weiss put her rapier?"

' _Ruby!'_ he cawed causing Ruby to look at him for a second. Then she grabbed the rapier and sheathed it on her belt. ' _Ok, so she wasn't hurt? Maybe having magic eyes makes it so you aren't affected by the crystal?'_

"Crow, come on, we need to get back to the deck," Ruby said as the ship suddenly was rocked to the side due to being hit by several feathers. Qrow nodded before flying up and landing on Ruby's shoulder. "Ok, let's go." She crouched over getting into a sprinter's stance before bolting forward.

Qrow immediately regretted his decision as he barely clung on to Ruby's shoulder. Reaching the stairs, Ruby ran up the first flight of stairs and planted one foot on the wall before immediately bolting up the stairs and running across the floor. During that time, Qrow had to lean over and bite onto Ruby's shirt in order to not fall off her at high speeds. She then repeated the process of going up the stairs before bursting out onto the main deck.

"Ruby, just in time," Yang said as Ruby handed Weiss her rapier. "We need you to shoot the nevermore."

"I'm telling you, I can hit it," Pyrrha said as she held her spear preparing to throw it.

"I'm not doubting it, but you would probably lose your spear if it dies over the water," Weiss said as she got into a fighting stance and Ruby started to load her crossbow.

"Then I would just get another spear," Pyrrha said looking to Weiss and Ruby as the younger girl aimed her crossbow. "Sure it would cost some gold to make another custom spear, but I would not mind."

"Well, if anything, the grimm is going to come after us," Ruby said as she shot off a normal crossbow bolt at the nevermore. The bolt hit the grimm in the chest knocking it back slightly from the impact, then a moment later the bolt disappeared into the beast's body. "then hopefully, we won't have to fight at a range."

The nevermore let out a roaring screech as it began circling the ship. When it reached the other end of the ship, the grimm stopped mid air and began shooting off giant feathers at the frigate. The feathers speared into the side of the ship knocking it back, and somewhere on the ship a certain bard ran back to his secluded railing before hurling into the sea.

Before the nevermore could begin flying again, a kusarigama flew through the air stabbing into the grimm's body. Blake then pulled herself as she jumped off the boat towards the nevermore. She then drew her sword stabbing it into its chest. Blake planted her feet on the grimm's chest before jumping away from the beast. She pulled on the kusarigama's chain pulling the weapon out just in time to throw it again hooking on the crow's nest so she could land back on the ship.

Ruby watched as Blake landed safely back on the deck, and she came up with an idea. Pulling out Crescent Rose, Ruby jumped in the air before hooking the central mast's yard before launching herself up catching the middle yard. Then she secured her scythe on her back before climbing up the rope ladder managing to reach the crow's nest.

She fired off several bolts hitting the grimm only managing to anger it. The nevermore let out a screech as it flew directly at Ruby. She ducked just in time as it collided with the top of the mast breaking off the flag pole causing it to fall down to the deck. Ruby then stood back up and fired off another bolt hitting the grimm's left wing causing a loud snap as the bone broke forcing the grimm to screech in pain. It immediately started to fly towards the ship as its damaged wing caused it to fall from the sky. With a loud crash, the nevermore landed on the back of the ship.

"Guys, what's happening?" Jaune asked as he stumbled out onto the deck.

"Why are you here?" Yang asked taking a step back from him.

"I don't have anything left in my body to throw up, so I should be fine," he said then drew his sword while raising his shield. "So, what are we fighting?"

"Nevermore, bit larger than usual," Pyrrha said as she began running up to the quarterdeck with everyone.

"I just need to get close," Sun said as he readied his bo staff focusing his chi into the weapon causing the gold to glow, "Then you guys can see what chi can do."

"Who is this?" Jaune asked as the ship rocked to the side causing him to dry heave as he ran with the group.

"Sun Wukong, he's an annoyance," Pyrrha answered as she made it to the quarterdeck. Then she threw her spear having it impale the nevermore's chest. The grimm let out another screech as it rocked the ship causing everyone to be knocked down.

It whipped its good wing throwing several feathers at the group. "Watch out!" Jaune shouted as he jumped forward raising his shield in order to block the feather aimed directly at Pyrrha.

The other feathers landed in the deck missing the others, but a large piece of wood shattered from the deck causing it to fly and stab Yang in the side just below where her armor stopped. "Son of a-" Yang nearly shouted as she pulled the wood from her side. Then her eyes turned red as her hair started to glow.

Sun twisted his body as he jumped off the ground landing on his feet. Then he ran forward and jumped, vaulting over the railing and landing in front of where the nevermore was perched. He jumped forward hitting the grimm's head with his staff causing a sudden flash of light. When the flash subsided everyone noticed as the bone mask was cracked and a small portion of its head was missing and smoke was falling from where he hit it.

Pyrrha pulled out her sword and shield before running up to the top deck. She was about to jump into the fight, but then Yang suddenly barreled past the knight. The nevermore looked at Yang before suddenly pecking at her with its spear-like beak. Yang ducked under the beak before uppercutting the bird knocking its head back. She then stood still for a moment as the grimm recovered, and placed both her hands together before scraping them together causing red fire to coat her hands.

Sun turned to Yang and formed a quick smirk. Reaching into his sleeve, Sun pulled out a pair of red and gold nunchucks before letting his bo staff fall to the ground. Yang ran forward and began punching the grimm's chest causing the feathers to catch on fire each time she hit it. As she did that, Sun ran forward and started to hit it with the nunchucks causing a flash of light each time and destroying small parts of the grimm's body with each hit.

After Yang and Sun were done delivering their assault on the grimm, they jumped back as Blake jumped onto the platform. She reached to her shortsword on the back of her belt and her katana before drawing them. Blake bolted forward and spun before she reached the grimm. She sliced through the air for a split second then stopped causing everything to fall silent. The grimm was still for a second before the top portion began sliding down from a diagonal cut.

"Is it dead?" Ruby asked as she made her way to the deck after jumping out of the crow's nest then began running to the others.

"Yeah, I think we're safe," Weiss said as Ruby stopped next to her.

"I guess it was really lucky I took you on my ship," the captain said as he let go of the ship's wheel to turn to the group. "I don't think that any of my sailors could have defeated it."

As they continued their conversation, Blake looked over to the nevermore that started to turn into ash as the top portion disappeared. In the remaining portion of the grimm, Blake could see the large tuna still perfectly intact. She immediately drew her kusarigama before throwing it at the fish hooking it. Then she pulled the fish back and caught it protectively holding it while looking at the others.

Everyone was silent as they looked at Blake who was now crouched over while holding her fish completely wide eyed. Before anyone could ask her anything, Blake jumped over the railing landing on the quarterdeck before jumping onto one of the masts and climbing up with the tuna hanging out of her mouth.

"That was weird," the captain said as he watched Blake jump onto the main mast before climbing into the crow's nest.

* * *

"So, this has been an interesting day," Ruby said as she and Weiss walked below deck to put their weapons away while Qrow was still perched on Ruby's shoulder.

"Yeah, it has," Weiss said as she placed the rapier in its sheath next to her pack. "Though, I guess I didn't need my rapier since everyone else did most of the fighting."

"And this little guy seems to have called down," Ruby said as she pet Qrow's head only to have him caw at her flapping his wings.

' _Don't pet me, I'm not a bird,'_ he thought then paused. ' _Alright, I'm a bird right now, but still.'_

"Ok, fine, you don't get pets," Ruby said lowering her hand.

"I really hope we didn't mess up by having him see us," Weiss said looking to Qrow. "The last thing we need is your uncle trying to give us relationship advice. Though, Ms. Goodwitch did give me some good counsel, and the only reason she knew about us was the spirit told her."

"Yeah, and I don't think he would be the best person to give relationship advice."

' _And what is that supposed to mean?'_ Qrow cawed.

"Not to mention, I don't think he would react well to the fact that I was possessed by a demon," she continued only to have Qrow's beak hang open for a second.

' _WHAT!?'_ he squawked directly in her ear. ' _You were possessed!? That's it, I'm shapeshifting. We have to have a talk.'_ He flew off her shoulder and to a darker portion of the ship landing behind several barrels as smoke started falling off his body.

"Ow," Ruby said as she rubbed her ear. "Ok, so that hurt."

"What is wrong with that bird?" Weiss asked as Qrow was in mid-transformation.

"I know being possessed was bad, but we solved it," Ruby said as Qrow finished shapeshifting and was about to emerge from his cover before she continued. "I know Qrow would overreact, and so would dad, but I don't want them to freak out. They are a bit protective, and I know that they mean well, but they can be a bit much."

Qrow looked at them for a second before sighing. "Fine kid, I won't bring this up," he said to himself as black smoke began engulfing his body, "yet." Moments later, Qrow flew from behind the barrels landing in front of the girls. He looked at them for a moment before flying to the main deck.

* * *

 **Well, the chapter started off with a duel that also kind of showcased how Ruby perceives things when she goes fast. It'll play in later, trust me.**

 **When I was writing this chapter, Qrow originally seemed to be reacting a bit badly to Weiss and Ruby's relationship, but I didn't want him to seem like kind of a douche. I did like writing out his responses to Weiss and Ruby's conversations.**

 **Random grimm attack, curse J'vana, the god of bad luck and coincidences that advance the plot.**

 **I'm sorry, but I would normally write more in the AN, but I am dead tired. If only I did the writing while dead tired because then there would be some interesting battles and plot advancement like the other times Sleep Deprived Van took the helm.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**

 **So, just remember, I might not post next week.**


	51. Pyrrha vs Ruby

**(Update: Hey guys, apparently the subscription alert system on Fanfictionnet is not working and the notifications haven't been getting sent out since the beginning of may. So, for those who rely on the notification system to know when the next chapter is out, I will continue to write my weekly chapters, but I'm going to keep a little reminder in the AN of which chapters didn't get a notification sent out so you guys don't miss anything.)**

 **Hello everyone, this J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. I** **'M BACK! Finally! Also, we've hit the 400 follower mark, so thank you guys for following this story.**

 **I'm sorry I didn't post last week, but I had finals to do and needed to focus on that before even thinking of writing. So, I'm done with my first year of college, and now I'm back to searching for a job, but first I need to figure out where I'm living this summer because the house we were supposed to get was sold by the landlord and now we're searching and we think we have found a place.**

 **So, I'm sure by the title, you guys know exactly what is going to happen and are more than likely skipping directly to the story. Since Pyrrha doesn't have her semblance, the fight will be more even. So I'll make this brief.**

 **Reviews:**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Cat-Blake is relatively prominent in this chapter, but I think I may have made her a bit too much like a cat... it'll be fine. Qrow is going to have several more comedic moments in later chapters. Of course Jaune would, I need to set up that romance at some point before I kill- I mean, nothing. Everyone, except Sun, actually knows about Blake's night in the tavern from the Assassin Fight chapter. You can't tell me what to do, it's only midnight, I've only been going to sleep at 3 in the morning for the past two weeks waking up at 7. I'm totally fine. See ya.**

 **(I'm going to say (Sassy)?) Guest: I actually foreshadowed three things i that chapter tied to the moment you're probably imagining. Well, Weiss is still the better fencer not matter what. I've been saying Ruby is a quick study, and since she has been having a series of training sessions with Weiss, she'll be decent when she actually uses the knowledge in a real fight.**

 **TheHuntress77: Well, Pyrrha hates him for many reasons, one of them because he's a thief. I mentioned the reason above. Qrow finding out was easy, now Yang on the other hand is going to be interesting.**

 **iamking: It's funny to write them.**

 **Kayda-Starr: Yep.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

It had been a day since the fight with the nevermore and the group was spending their evening under the deck in the quarters. Ruby and Yang were sleeping in their hammocks with Yang's being suspended above her sister's. The elder sister's hand was hanging off the side occasionally brushing Ruby's causing her to stir in her sleep each time the ship rocked. Blake had not returned yet after she ran off with her tuna, and the group did spend a couple hours searching for her, but eventually they figured she didn't want to be found.

Everyone else was sitting around a large crate they were using as a table while playing a game of Wicked Grace. Nora was sitting on the head of her hammer that was resting on a small crate and Ren was balanced on the shaft since he couldn't move it anyway. Pyrrha and Sun were sitting on barrels across from each other and each time Sun would try to cheat Pyrrha would shoot him a glare. Jaune was sitting between Pyrrha and Weiss on a small crate with a small bucket next to himself in case he vomited. Weiss was sitting on a barrel that was tall enough to have her feet dangle off the edge.

"I'm a bit confused," Weiss said as she drew another card. "How can someone win this game if they are drawing nothing but cards from different suits." She sighed before placing another card into the discard pile.

"Well, first of all, you don't tell anyone what you're drawing," Sun said as he drew a card trying to avoid the watchful gaze of Pyrrha. "It also is a game of chance. So you should just figure out what kinds of cards you've been drawing and just pick a suit and stay with it unless every time you draw a card, it's from the suit you had just discarded, then you're just unlucky."

"So," Ren said getting everyone's attention as Sun finished his turn. He then drew a card before discarding one from his hand, "I know Nora and I haven't spent much time with you guys for the past day and a half, but who is this guy?" He stuck out his thumb pointing it at Sun as Nora took her turn. During this time, Jaune took a peek at his cards before his foot started tapping.

"He's-" Pyrrha began before Sun suddenly cut her off.

"The name's Sun Wukong," he greeted giving Ren a cheeky grim. "I'm a fellow chi user."

"Huh, neat," Ren said then looked down to his cards stopping the conversation from going any further into chi.

"He's also an adventurer from Mistral, and a thief," Pyrrha said as she drew her card.

"Oh, you're not still mad about-"

"You stole my sword and spear before my spar with your friend, Sage," Pyrrha interrupted him causing the faunus to jump in his seat a little. "Thanks to you, I had to fight against him with only a shield."

"But you still beat him," Sun said as Pyrrha was about to discard her card before putting it back into her hand causing Jaune's foot tapping to increase. "If anything, I did you a favor so you could be more creative with your fighting style and learn to use your shield as a weapon."

"Before that spar, I went on a mission where I decapitated two ursai by throwing my shield at them," she said as she tilted her head to the side causing her neck to crack. Sun quickly turned his head to make sure her weapons were still with everyone else's. "Either way," she removed her card from her hand placing it in the discard pile, "Jaune, it's your turn."

He nervously reached to the deck before drawing a card. As soon as he looked at the card, he jumped off his seat. "Yes! Finally! Angel of Death!" Jaune exclaimed as he slammed his hand down on the crate. "Angel of Life, Truth, Charity, Hope, and Death! There is not a better hand than that!"

"Damn," Ren remarked as laid down his bad hand.

"Ha! I finally win a game!" Jaune nearly shouted as he pointed at Ren.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Weiss said with a smirk as she laid down her hand. "Knight of Dusk, Dawn, Day, Night, and Twilight. Five knights of the daily cycle beats your pair of Life and Death, and your three other cards."

"What? No-hrk!" Jaune suddenly said as he had to crouch over and dry heave into his bucket due to the ship rocking slightly.

"I thought you weren't drawing any good cards?" Sun asked as he looked at Weiss's hand to make sure she wasn't lying.

"My butler always said that when you're playing Wicked Grace, always deceive your opponents by making them think it's your first game. That way they perceive you as less of a threat," Weiss said as she began gathering the cards and shuffling them. "Jaune, you didn't wake up Yang and Ruby with your shouting, did you?" She then looked over to Ruby and saw she was still sleeping peacefully.

"No, they're staying asleep," he said sitting back down on his crate. "If Ruby can withstand Yang's snoring, she won't be woken up by a little shouting. Though, if she was anything like her sister, I would not want to be on the receiving end of Ruby's tired rage."

"Not to mention, the back end of that scythe must hurt," Nora said as she and Ren hopped off her hammer before she placed it against the wall. "I mean you saw how she knocked out that assassin with one hit."

"Says the girl who can destroy a person in a single swing," he replied leaning back against a support beam from behind the crate. "I know Ruby's a pretty good fighter, but I think you could beat her."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Pyrrha said getting everyone's attention. "I've seen your friend in only a few fights, but she is perfectly capable of beating opponents much more dangerous than simple assassins or creatures of grimm. If she would turn her weapon around and use the blade, she could be a proficient knight on par with the elite knights."

"She wouldn't do that," Weiss almost immediately said. "Ruby may be a good fighter, but she doesn't kill. She's not that kind of person."

"Interesting," Pyrrha said as she looked over the girl in question seeing her swat away Yang's hand.

* * *

"So, you don't think Blake fell overboard?" Yang asked Ruby as they each cast a line into the ocean as Weiss looked up from the book on demons she borrowed from Blake's pack. "We haven't seen her for a day, and we're nearing two."

"Well, I'm sure she'll turn up," Ruby said as she pulled on her fishing pole pulling out a mackerel. Before she could retrieve the fish, a black blur swung from the mast to the fishing line. When the black blur retreated back up the mast, Ruby and Yang saw the fish was gone. "Ok, so she's definitely not overboard."

"Where is she hiding? We've searched the boat several times," Yang asked as she looked for the black blur only to find nothing.

"Well, the only place that would even be a good hiding spot would be the crow's nest, but Jaune already searched that place and didn't find anything," Weiss said as she turned the page. "Maybe she's going to different parts of the ship to avoid everyone."

"But she does have to sleep at some point," Pyrrha said as she approached the three. "Though, it is a bit disconcerting not knowing where someone is."

"So, where are the others at?" Yang asked as she began pulling out her line.

"Ren and Sun are meditating, Jaune is somewhere throwing up, and Nora is looking at birds," Pyrrha said looking to the bow of the ship seeing Nora cashing after Qrow in bird form before he squawked directly in her ear before flying away. "But I did also come here for another reason. Ruby," she paused as she watched Ruby turn towards her, "Go get your weapon and armor. I want to spar with you."

"What?" the three girls asked as they looked at her.

"I wish to test your skill," she explained. "I've only seen you fight a few times, and while I am impressed with what I have seen, I believe there is more I haven't."

"So, you just want to fight me?" Ruby asked her setting down her pole.

"I wish to test your skill, there is a difference," Pyrrha said leaning against a nearby mast. "While I was put in charge of protecting Weiss, you seem to be around her the most. So I just want to know if you are fully capable of protecting her."

"I am," she said standing up.

"Then prove it."

Ruby was silent for a bit before she started heading to the stairs. "I'll get my things."

* * *

' _How can one person eat that much?'_ Crow thought to himself as he watched Blake eating a mackerel next to a pile of fish bones. As she was gnawing on the fish, Qrow swore he could hear growling coming from the ninja as she looked at him. ' _Maybe I should go see what the others are doing before she attacks me."_

Qrow hopped over to the edge of the crow's nest before jumping up onto the railing. He looked down and saw the curious sight of Ruby wearing her armor and wielding Crescent Rose. ' _Ok, something is going on.'_ He jumped out of the crow's nest before flying off.

Moments later he landed next to Yang who was leaning against the railing. Ren and Sun were both leaning against the opposing railing with Jaune hanging half over it threatening to vomit each time the ship rocked. Qrow saw Weiss standing next to Ruby who was standing fifteen feet away from Pyrrha. He was about to relax, but he suddenly felt a tingling going down his spine before turning his head off to the right coming face to face with the giant smile of Nora.

"Hey birdie," Nora said as she reached up to catch Qrow.

He quickly reacted by flapping his wings at her and squawking before flying briefly to land in Yang's hair. ' _Yang, save me,'_ Qrow pleaded with a series of caws.

"What are you doing, crazy bird?" Yang asked as she quickly swatted him out of her hair.

' _You useless niece!'_ he squawked as he began hopping away from Nora who was now chasing him. He quickly made his way over to Weiss and Ruby before flying up landing on Weiss's shoulder. ' _Save me princess, this girl chased me for nearly an hour before I managed to get away to the crow's nest.'_ As soon as he stopped cawing, Nora suddenly tripped for no reason causing her to land on her face. ' _Great, now my magic is acting up. I need to calm down, otherwise this might end up bad for everyone else.'_

"Nora, calm down, you're scaring Crow. Ruby and Pyrrha are about to spar, so quit running around, otherwise you might get caught in the middle," Weiss said scolding her.

' _So they're fighting,'_ Qrow thought as he looked at the two fighters. ' _An elite knight from Mistral versus my Ruby.'_ He began chuckling slightly at the thought. ' _This will be interesting.'_

"So, you know the rules," Pyrrha said as she pulled her spear from her back getting into a fighting stance. "This is a fight to test all your skill, so you need to come at me as if I was trying to kill you. I won't be holding back, so neither should you."

"Got it," Ruby said getting into a fighting stance having the blade of Crescent Rose pointed behind herself. Weiss and Nora quickly took a couple steps back towards the railing as a couple crew members and the captain neared the area to watch what was happening.

Ruby was about to bolt at Pyrrha, but she quickly threw her spear having it impale the deck in front of the reaper. As soon as she moved, she tripped on the weapon causing her to fall onto the deck as Pyrrha drew both her sword and shield. Ruby rolled onto her back before jumping off the ground landing on her feet, but before she could recover, Pyrrha threw her shield hitting Ruby in the small of her back just under where her armor ended so the most damage could be done.

Pyrrha caught her shield in a second as Ruby turned around swinging the back end of her scythe at her. She managed to block the large weapon in time before pushing her shield forward throwing Ruby's scythe back. She then spun around for a kick catching Ruby's cheek with the heel of her foot causing the reaper to bend over slightly as Pyrrha planted her feet back on the ground. She then shot her knee up hitting Ruby in the forehead before kicking her in the chest throwing her back several feet.

Ruby recovered then bolted back into the fight. She ran partway towards Pyrrha, but suddenly changed her direction and jumping up landing on the side of the nearby mast for a second before pushing off aimed at the knight. She then swung Crescent Rose as Pyrrha raised her shield to block it. Ruby landed on the ground before she spun around hitting the shield again. Then she spun around a second time swinging the weapon, but changed the direction at the last second hitting her in the shin knocking her off the ground.

She quickly swung her scythe upwards hitting her in the abdomen throwing her directly onto the quarterdeck. Pyrrha jumped back to her feet before jumping over the railing and throwing her shield at Ruby. The reaper quickly spun around in the opposite direction hooking the shield with her scythe's blade before whipping the shield to the ground. The shield bounced off the deck as Pyrrha landed catching her shield and swinging her sword downwards at Ruby.

She blocked the sword with her scythe's shaft causing sparks to fly as the weapons collided. Ruby pushed forward redirecting Pyrrha's sword down before she thrusted forward hitting her with the dull edge of the scythe's blade pushing the knight back a couple feet. She closed the distance in a second thrusting her scythe hitting Pyrrha with the dull edge knocking the air out of the knight's lungs before she uppercutted with the end of her scythe catching Pyrrha under the jaw throwing her onto her back.

Ruby jumped in the air swinging the back end of her scythe downward, but Pyrrha quickly rolled out of the way as Crescent Rose slammed into the deck. She then kept rolling as the reaper dragged her scythe at her before pulling the weapon up. As soon as she reached her spear, Pyrrha dropped her sword before pulling the spear out of the deck and throwing it at Ruby who used her scythe to redirect the spear high into the mast of the ship imbedding it there. The knight grabbed her sword before curling back and jumping landing on her feet getting back into her fighting stance.

"Impressive, so far," Pyrrha said taking some deep breaths as Ruby got into her fighting stance while also taking in some deep breaths. "Though, you do realize you would have a better chance of beating me if you turn your blade around."

"Yeah, I do, but it's not my style," Ruby said between breaths before wiping some blood off her cheek. "I personally don't enjoy killing."

"Well, you do know that if you're protecting Weiss, there are going to be situations where there are no other options."

"There's always another option," Ruby said as she ran forward swinging her scythe at Pyrrha who raised her shield and blocked the blunt side of the weapon.

Pyrrha quickly slashed at Ruby, but she raised the end of her scythe blocking the sword. Pyrrha then kicked Ruby's shin knocking her off balance. The reaper then pivoted her body rolling on the dull end of her scythe for a second to plant her feet back on the ground. She then ran at her opponent swinging her scythe, but Pyrrha ducked under the weapon before headbutting the bottom of Ruby's jaw. After she was dazed, Pyrrha slashed at her catching the younger girl's side before she slammed the pommel of her sword into her abdomen.

While she was in close proximity to her opponent, Ruby quickly bolted forward headbutting Pyrrha's nose breaking it. Then the knight slashed with her sword catching Ruby's side scraping against the chainmail. Pyrrha spun around and slammed her shield into Ruby's face causing her to drop her scythe and fall backwards.

Pyrrha then took a couple steps forward taking several deep breaths as she reached up wiping blood from her nose. She pointed the tip of her sword at Ruby's chest causing the younger girl to stop trying to get up. "I win," she said between breaths before sheathing her sword and offering her opponent a hand. "You fight well, and would make a good knight with some practice. Though, there are going to be situations that are kill or be killed, and you will have to make a tough decision."

"You are a good fighter," Ruby said as she took Pyrrha's hand and stood up, "but you're wrong. There is always a third option where nobody needs to die, it's just not going to be the easiest decision."

"Well, I truly hope you're right then," Pyrrha said then kicking up Crescent Rose and catching it before handing the weapon to its owner. "Well then, I'm going to go get my spear back."

"Hold it," Weiss said as she approached the knight. "Stand still for a second." She reached upward and began casting healing magic on Pyrrha's nose fixing it in a couple seconds stopping the bleeding. "Ok, you should be fine for now, but come to me later if you're still hurting."

"Thanks, I will," she said then began climbing up the nearby mast to retrieve her spear.

"Are you ok?" Weiss asked as she turned to Ruby and placed her hand on her cheek beginning to heal the cut. "You took some bad hits."

"I'm fine," Ruby said reaching up to hold Weiss's hand.

"Whoo! That's my little sister!" Yang exclaimed as she walked over patting Ruby on the back causing both her and Weiss to jump back in surprise and Ruby put her hands down at her sides. "You kicked her butt!"

"But I lost," she said looking to her older sister.

"So, you still did a good job," Sun said giving her a thumbs up. "I've never seen her lose a fight, but you had a pretty good shot at it. Have you considered fighting with a bo staff? You wouldn't have to worry about using your weapon's blade against people, also it'd be lighter so you can strike your opponent more."

"No, I'd never get rid of Crescent Rose," she said giving her scythe a hug before securing it to her back.

"And you haven't seen her use her weapon against grimm yet," Yang said resting an arm on Ruby's shoulder. "I've seen her handle a pack of beowolves single-handedly. She doesn't use the blade against people, but she does against monsters."

"Yang, I told you to stop bragging about that," Ruby whined as she looked at her sister while puffing out her cheeks slightly.

' _Even if you lost, it was a good fight,'_ Qrow shrugged while nodding, ' _To go toe-to-toe with an elite knight is still a good feat. Then again, you were trained by me so…'_

"Impressive fight," the captain said as he and several of his crew members neared the group. "While I don't exactly like the damage done to my ship, it was an entertaining fight." He paused as he looked over to Weiss and saw she was healing Ruby's cut cheek. "You never told me you were a mage."

"Well, I didn't think it was that important," Weiss said as she raised an eyebrow. "If you saw the fight the other day, you would know that she's also a mage." She pointed at Yang who did a quick wave before snapping her fingers creating a small fireball in her hand she let roll around for a second before extinguishing it. "It's not a problem, is it?"

"No, no, not at all," the captain said as he raised his hands in front of himself. "It was just a surprise. Not many mages actively travel to Atlas."

"Why is that?"

"Magic isn't exactly the most well liked thing in Atlas," Jaune interjected turning away from the railing. "Sure it is pretty useful, but some non-mages in Atlas don't like being around mages due to some incidents with demonic possessions resulting in a lot of deaths. Mages born in Atlas either travel to schools to learn how to better control their magic, or they even repress their power in order to hide it, but that can be dangerous too."

"And you never bothered to mention it earlier?"

"I've been a bit preoccupied lately," he said then turned around before retching over the railing causing everyone nearby to step back and cringe from the sound. He turned around and wiped his mouth with his sleeve before continuing. "Anyway, common people don't like mages, and in rare cases there are witch hunts if there is a mage in an area who practices dark magic like Necromancy or Blood Magic. Also a mage's connection to the Fade does make them more susceptible to demonic possession despite the fact that anyone can be possessed."

"You seem rather knowledgeable about mages, Mr. Bard," the captain remarked looking at Jaune.

"When I travelled with a group of knights from Vale, we did travel with a fast talking scribe who was also a pyromancer. He explained a lot of things about magic to me, but since I was the only one who would listen to him, he talked with me every waking moment for three days before he left," Jaune explained shivering slightly at the memory.

* * *

"Just how high did Ruby throw my spear?" Pyrrha asked herself as she kept climbing. She looked up and saw the spear embedded in the mast near the top. Shortly after retrieving her spear and securing it to her back, Pyrrha could hear breathing and a slight growling coming from the crow's nest on the main mast a short distance away.

Figuring she had nothing better to do, Pyrrha jumped from the mast she was on landing on the rope ladder connected to the crow's nest before climbing up. When she made it to the top, she looked into the crow's nest seeing Blake asleep laying on her back in the sunlight.

"Ok, well, I found Blake, but Jaune said… right, motion sickness," Pyrrha said to herself then saw the pile of fish bones. "Ok, I'm just going to go." She then began her descent back to the deck to inform the others of Blake's location.

* * *

 **And nobody is shocked with the outcome. Of course I was going to make Pyrrha win, she's an Elite Knight, and while Ruby is a prodigy who is good at fighting with her scythe, she's better at fighting monsters than people.**

 **So, this was the third day of travelling, which means next chapter the group will land in South Atlas. I'm sure Jaune will appreciate that so he's not constantly vomiting.**

 **I have one, maybe two chapters before the group makes it to Fort Mantle. That's right, we get a breather chapter before things go to shit, and what's a better breather chapter location than a relaxing hot springs. No, there is not going to be lewd stuff going on at the hot springs, get your minds out of the gutter.**

 **I should probably get some sleep soon. On the bright side guys, I can start writing chapters earlier, which means they can be longer. See you guys on Mother's Day.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	52. Actual Chapter 52 and Hot Springs

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. This chapter is a bit lengthy, but I had a lot to cover before going into the Fort Mantle arc. I've managed to do the ending of this today, which I think can be shown at the end, but it shouldn't affect it that much. Sleep Deprived Van had a hand in writing a decent portion of this chapter, but Delirious Van did kind of take over near the end.**

 **So, I have a couple updates I think you guys need to know if you didn't read the update before I deleted the chapter. Basically, chapter 51 didn't get an email sent out for when it was posted, but I'm sure you guys already know that. Then two more things I'm just going to copy and paste from the other document to save me time.**

 **So, I decided that the whole monetary based system in this AU was a bit off, you know, characters betting five hundred gold because they** ** _totally_** **can count that many coins instantly from the coin purses on their belts. Also apparently I made a couple apples worth 4 gold coins in the second chapter. What I did was basically adopt the typical fantasy rpg money system where 100 copper pieces equals 1 silver, then 100 silver equals 1 gold. That way when I use large numbers like five hundred gold, it has a ton of value and would probably need to be carried in a chest. The longest part of this change was going through every chapter searching for the mention of gold and changing it if necessary.**

 **Lastly, you guys know Manu-chann, the artist who drew the cover for this story? Well, Knowledgeseeker66 commissioned her to make a manga for this story's first chapter. I've seen it, and it looks good, I even shared it on my Twitter and Tumblr accounts. So if you guys want to see it, just go on Manu-chann's DeviantArt page, and while you're there, check out some of her other art, it's really good.**

 **Let's move onto reviews:**

 **KibaPT: Blake has a strict exercise regime, so the more fish she eats, the more she exercises.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: I was tempted to have Pyrrha stab Ruby in the gut to prove her point, but then nobody would trust her after that. Hopefully the notification for this chapter can be sent out.**

 **Yaksher: Truth be told, it was rather difficult to write that fight scene.**

 **TheHuntress77: Comedic value for the most part, and it has a lot to do with her faunus side.**

 **iamking: Yeah, Ruby is a decent fighter, but Pyrrha is essentially the same rank as Qrow. She may have to get past her mindset the hard way, and it may happen in the near future.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Let me go!" Blake shouted as she struggled against the ropes that had completely bound her to the ship's main mast. "This is completely ridiculous!"

"No, you were beginning to go feral, attacking anyone if they came close," Yang said gesturing to Jaune who was was vomiting over the railing as Pyrrha rubbed his back. On his sleeve, there was a large tear with some blood staining the shirt. His arm used to have a large gash, but Weiss healed it shortly after the altercation. "We needed to tie you up till you calmed down."

"Don't go treating me like I'm some kind of animal," Blake nearly shouted as she continued to struggle.

"To be completely fair, I did this to Ruby when we were younger and she kind of went feral after going on a cookie binge."

"Yang!" Ruby whined as she jumped on Yang's back locking her legs around her while hitting her older sister's shoulders. "I thought I told you to never bring that up in public."

"You did, but I decided against it," she chuckled as she beared with the reaper's assault. After a couple moments of Yang laughing, Ruby jumped off her sister's back puffing out her cheeks giving the brawler a glare. "Anyway, we're keeping you there until we're sure you're not going to go crazy."

"Look, honestly, I'm fine," Blake said with her normal voice as she stopped struggling against the ropes. "Jaune, I'm sorry for clawing your arm. Ok, I wasn't in my right mind before, but I'm better now."

"Ok, so if we let you go, will you promise to not go crazy?" Yang asked as Ruby pulled her dagger from her boot before handing it to her sister. "We're only going to give you one chance."

"Yes, I promise I won't go anywhere," Blake said as Yang walked over and cut the rope. As the rope landed on the deck, Blake smirked. "You can't control me!" she shouted then began climbing the mast, but Yang quickly reached up catching her by the back of her collar.

"I said we were only giving you one chance," Yang said as she began pulling Blake from the post, but the faunus had a firm grip on the mast. Moments later her grip failed and Blake was now being held above the ground. Yang then began walking towards the railing with the faunus at arms length away.

"Yang, what are you doing?" Blake asked her as the brawler neared the railing.

"You were going to run, so you wasted your one chance," she said then Blake instantly realized what she was going to do.

"Yang, no, you can't throw me overboard just because I tried to run," Blake pleaded as she grabbed Yang's wrist and put her feet on the railing to try and push against her. "Yang, please, I hate water." One of her feet slipped causing her to lose her footing with Yang holding her out over open water.

"Well, you seem to like fish, and there's plenty in the sea," Yang said then released her grip.

"No!" Blake shouted as she pulled herself up and wrapped her legs around Yang's arm clinging to her tightly. "Please no, I'll be good, I'll be good."

"Ok then," Yang said then smirked as she lowered her arm down to her side. "Sun, you can come out now."

"So we aren't throwing her overboard," Sun asked from down below as he crawled out the gun port directly below her before climbing up the hull onto the deck. "We weren't really going to throw you in the water, I was supposed to catch you."

"That doesn't make it better," Blake said shooting him a glare as she was now upside down, still clinging to Yang's arm. She then looked to everyone else. "And you guys were ok with this?"

"Well, you did kind of cut open Jaune's arm," Ren tried to reason but shut up due to the glare Blake shot him.

"I thought it would be fun," Nora said ignoring the death glare that was now being directed at her.

"Well, if you kids are done," the captain said approaching the group, "it seems the winds were working in our favor." He paused while gesturing ahead.

"Land ho!" one of the crew members shouted from the crow's nest.

"And that is Jerry, one of my laziest lookouts," the captain said with a small groan. "If he was a good lookout, he would've spotted land half an hour ago. We'll be making port in the town of Belaray soon, so you all should be getting your items and head below deck to bring out your horses as soon as we land. I'm sure they would appreciate the fresh air."

* * *

"Are you mad?" Ruby asked Chestnut as she led the horse off the boarding ramp only to get a grunt in a response. "Look, I'm sorry you were below deck for three days, but I couldn't bring you above deck over open water." Chestnut let out another grunt as she turned her head away from Ruby. "Please don't be mad at me," she pleaded as she hugged the horse's neck. Chestnut tilted her head up for a second before tilting down and pressing into Ruby. "Aww, I knew you'd forgive me."

"Land!" Jaune cried as he let go of Clovis's reins before falling onto the ground. "Oh how I missed you."

"Ok, so we need to find a spot to stay for the evening, then we can head to Fort Mantle," Weiss said as she and the others led their horses off the ship while Crow remained perched on her shoulder..

"You guys are heading to Fort Mantle?" Sun asked as he walked with the group. "I heard there was a lot of troop movements there. Why would you guys be heading there?"

"It's none of your concern," Pyrrha told him. "You're here now, so you can leave us."

"Hey, I don't want to go to Fort Mantle, I was never good around soldiers."

"Maybe it's because thieves and knights don't mix well."

"Tell that to Sag-"

"Sun!" a voice called from further down the docks.

The group looked there to see three men standing near a ship with a blue flag with a trident emblem. The first man had long red hair draped over his right eye and was wearing a red jacket roughly similar to a military one with a grey bandanna around his neck along with a cutlass sheathed on his belt. The second man had a dark complexion and green hair, and was wearing a long white coat under a chestplate where a wide grey broadsword was secured to his back. The third man had blue spiked hair and was wearing a fine red jacket with a long blue trident strapped to his back.

"Sun, where were you?" the man with the trident asked as the trio approached the group.

"Oh, you know how it is, Neptune," Sun said with a shrug. "One night you're in Vacuo chasing down a valuable item, next moment you're stuck on the cargo ship heading to Vale hiding from the crew."

"And did you find it?"

"Yeah, yeah," he said reaching into his robe before pulling out a golden dagger and tossing it to Neptune. "Now we can return the artifact to the monks of the Hallowed Oasis. Before I forget," he turned to the group before gesturing to his team. "Guys, this is Scarlet, Sage, and our noble we tolerate-"

"Hey!"

"Neptune." He then turned to the guys before gesturing to the group. "Guys, you know Pyrrha," he began before continuing, "this is Jaune, Ren, Nora, Blake, Ruby, Yang, and Weiss. They were on the ship with me, but they're heading to Fort Mantle tomorrow."

"Greetings," Sage said giving them a slight bow.

"Hello there," Scarlet said giving them a wave.

"Hello ladies," Neptune said giving them a smile that seemed to sparkle for a second before the smile went away. "Wait, Weiss? As is Weiss Schnee?"

"The princess?" Scarlet asked.

"I thought she was killed?" Sage asked looking to Weiss.

"Be quiet," Weiss snapped at them looking around to make sure nobody heard them. "There's a reason I kept my identity a secret, and I would appreciate you not telling everyone."

"So the story of you dying?"

"False," Weiss answered him. "Look, I needed to disappear, and I did. It wasn't exactly my idea that I died, but it helped avoid suspicion when I travelled."

' _Well, this is getting boring, and I have that job Ozpin needs me to do,'_ Qrow thought as he cawed before flying off. ' _I'll be back soon.'_

"Well, while you guys talk for a bit, we're going to find a stable and buy some supplies. We'll meet up later," Pyrrha said as she, Ren, Nora, and Jaune grabbed the reins of their horses and began walking into the town.

"So where have you been all this time?" Neptune asked her as he walked up. "The last anyone had heard, you were at the castle at the time of…" He paused as he realized what he was about to say. "I'm… sorry about your mother. The noble families close to yours were freaking out when they heard the news, my family even hired an escort to bring me home for a month when they heard the news just to make sure I wouldn't get attacked by the White Fang."

"Has your family been involved in the enslavement of faunus in the past?" Weiss asked him as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"No."

"Well then, your family's fine," she told him then realized how cold she was sounding. "Thank you though. It's been a difficult time after the death of my mother, but I've been managing. I've made plenty of friends and have been enjoying my travels, except for a few key situations I would rather not go through again."

"So you're an adventurer now," he said with a grin as he crossed his arms leaning back a little. "I still remember the sheltered princess who was too shy to speak with anyone at her family's own party."

"It's strange how nobles act when they meet each other," Sage remarked as he walked over to Yang. "I've been travelling with him for years, and it's still strange every time I see this."

"I haven't seen Weiss interact with any other nobles, but you're right, this is weird," Yang said as Weiss and Neptune laughed at a joke he made about pompous nobles.

Ruby saw Weiss and Neptune and was annoyed for some reason she couldn't put a finger on. She could feel her cheeks puff out a little bit, so she quickly breathed out before anyone would notice.

"Hello there," Scarlet greeted her. "I couldn't help but notice your unusual hair color. It's very unique."

"Oh, thank you," Ruby said as she turned to face him.

"So, if I were to judge by your armor, I would say you were a knight," he said then looked her over, "but your weapon appears to be a large farming scythe modified to be used in battles. So, either you're a knight using a farmer's weapon, or you're a farmer wearing armor."

"Well, I'm… I don't really know," Ruby said as she thought to herself. "I was a farmhand when all this began, but I don't know if I can call myself that anymore."

"In all honesty, it doesn't really matter what you call yourself. Farmer, knight, they're just titles," he said causing Ruby to raise an eyebrow. "I've had many titles: sailor, private, pirate, and now adventurer. I've stopped caring what people call me, maybe you should too."

From a short distance away, Blake mounted Nightmare, but the sounds of footsteps trying to be silent caused Blake's cat ear to twitch. She reached to the back of her belt gripping the hilt of her shortsword before leaping off her horse backwards landing behind the person pressing the blade against their back. She was about to push her sword forward, but then she saw the familiar robe of Sun.

"U-uh hey, would you mind not stabbing me in the back?" Sun nervously asked her as he raised his hands in the air.

"Why were you sneaking around?" she asked him as she sheathed her shortsword.

"I was avoiding stepping in horse dung. You would not believe how many people just leave that stuff on the ground," he said gesturing to the manure on the ground where he came from. "I also wanted to talk to you."

Blake looked down and saw she was stepping in a piece of horse manure. "Ugh!" she groaned as she stepped out of the manure before scraping her foot against the ground. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, I was just wondering if you would want to go somewhere and maybe get some food," he said giving her a smile.

"Well-"

"Oh no you don't," Neptune interjected turning away from Weiss before walking to Sun. "We have been stuck here for two weeks because you snuck onto a ship to steal a bunch of bananas on your way back after retrieving the gold dagger. We are dropping off the dagger with the monks, then we're going back to Mistral."

"But Neptune, if we are going back to Mistral, that means we're going to have to travel over the water," Sun said causing Neptune to tense up.

"Well, maybe we can stay for a few days," he said looking off to the side.

"Nope, you're right, we should go," Sun said as he grabbed Neptune's arm and began pulling him towards their ship.

"No, I'm perfectly fine not going over water," Neptune told him as he tried to pull his arm back.

"The sea is fine," Scarlet said with a smirk as he walked over grabbing his other arm pulling him back. "Your family provided us with a ship and a crew making me your captain. You have nothing to fear."

"That smile is not reassuring," he nearly shouted planting his feet on the ground in an attempt to stop the guys from moving him.

"Well, you should be fine if you remain in your quarters for the trip," Sage told him as he reached down grabbing Neptune's legs and lifting him off the ground. He then turned back to the group of girls who were now looking amused at the spectacle in front of them. "If you four and the others are spending the night in town, there is an open air hot springs near the outskirts of town. It should be vacant since we left. They even have their own stables."

"See ya," Sun said giving the girls a wave as the three of them carried Neptune away.

"Hot springs, huh," Yang said raising her hand under her chin thinking for a couple moments. "Well, it has been a while since I had a proper bath. I'm fine with it."

"I'm fine with going to a hot spring," Blake agreed with her. "I just hope it is not mixed bathing."

"Wait, you two are just fine bathing with others?" Weiss asked them.

"Yeah," Yang said raising an eyebrow, "it's not uncommon for people to go to public bathhouses. Ruby and I would always go Patch's bathhouse every other week. Wait, don't tell me you've never gone to a public bathhouse?"

"No, of course not, I was raised to-"

"Thought so, well, this is going to be interesting," Yang said with a large grin. "Ok, let's find the others and tell them to meet us at the hot springs."

"Actually, I was thinking of doing some shopping," Weiss said to them. "Ruby, do you want to come with?"

"Yes, actually, I was thinking we could get some supplies," Ruby said as she turned gesturing for Weiss to lead. "We'll see you two at the hot springs."

* * *

"Ok, so this request is from Commander Ironwood from Fort Mantle?" the woman from behind the desk asked as she filled out the request form. The man simply nodded in response. "Ok then, I just need your name so I know if you are a person who is capable of filing a request like this."

"My name is Qrow Branwen, an elite knight," Qrow said as he signed the paper before smirking. "Can I see that request form?" he asked her before she handed him the paper. He used his quill pen to draw a wing symbol pointing to the right. "Thank you, and make sure this request goes on the board within the hour. The more adventurers that see this, the better."

"I will, Mr. Branwen," she said then turned from Qrow and headed to the back room.

"Making me sound old," Qrow mumbled to himself as he walked out of the Adventurers' Guild building into the marketplace. As he walked down the street, he saw Ruby and Weiss walking to the different stalls carrying some supplies while others remained in their horses' saddlebags. "Well, maybe I can finally talk to those two," he said to himself as he walked towards them.

"And what do you think of this?" he heard Weiss ask Ruby as she held up a ruby encrusted necklace. "I think it would fit you well."

"I don't know, I'm not one for jewelry," Ruby said waving off her girlfriend. "We should head to the hot springs soon, the others are probably waiting."

"At least try it on," Weiss insisted as she stepped behind Ruby before putting the necklace on her.

"Huh, she was right, it looks terrible," Qrow said as he leaned against the market stall getting their attention before giving them a confident smirk. "Hey kid."

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby exclaimed as she bolted forward giving him a hug. "It's so good to see you. Why are you in Atlas? How did you get here?"

"I had a mission, and I took a ship," he told her. "Also, I appreciate you taking care of… my bird till you landed."

"It was fine, he didn't bother us much, though he did squawk in my ear," Ruby told him causing his smile to fade.

"Yeah, sorry about that," he said with a small chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head. "So, I heard from… a reliable source that a certain someone was possessed by a demon." He paused as he looked down at Ruby concerned. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, Uncle Qrow, I'm fine," she said as she felt him wrap an arm around her in a comforting hug. "I'm surprised you aren't freaking out."

"Well, I was… surprised when I found out," he told her. "You were lucky you had Goodwitch with you, otherwise it may have turned out badly. I've seen what happens when a demon possesses a child and the demon isn't exorcised. An abomination is more deadly than any warrior you may face."

"Have you ever faced an abomination?" Weiss asked him as Ruby backed out of his hug.

"Once, on a mission shortly after Ruby was born," he told them. "There were reports of a demonic possession in a small town a day's ride from Vale. They needed someone who couldn't be affected by its magic, so I was the only skilled knight able to go."

"Why were you the one not able to be affected?" Ruby asked him.

"Well, mages have a certain resistance to mind-altering magic," he explained before he just realized what he had just told them.

"You're a mage?" Ruby immediately asked him. "How could you not tell me?"

"Well, while I am a mage, I'm not a strong one. Also, my magic isn't that useful, or controllable," he said as a large black bird landed on a nearby market stand letting out a croak. "It was probably better for you to not know I was a mage. I can cause bad luck around me, which can be useful in a fight, but not for being around loved ones. It gets more dangerous the more into the fight I get, so being calm allows my magic to not be as dangerous. There was a reason I became a farmer, kid, many reasons."

"So, you hid being a mage so you could have a normal life."

"Yes, though my sister could have easily of had a normal life as her magic is good luck," he said as the black bird near him croaked somewhat angrily. He turned and pointed at the bird. "I will deal with you in a bit, so be quiet or go." The bird squawked before flying off.

"What was that about?" Weiss asked him. "Is that one of your birds?"

"It's nothing that important, and no, that was not one of my birds," he said mildly annoyed before turning back to Weiss and Ruby. "Also, my reliable source informed me of something else." He gave them a cocky grin causing both of them to gulp. Then he paused for a second before turning away from them. "I have some things I need to take care of, though, I'm happy for you two. Finding someone you love is a rare thing, so don't let anything stop you two from being together."

As he began walking away, Ruby was silent before sprinting forward. She quickly moved past Qrow before turning around and slamming into him in a tight hug. "Thank you," she said burying her face in his chest.

"No problem, kid," he said leaning down giving her a hug. "There are things I wish I could tell you, and some I probably should, but the one thing I can tell you is that I am proud of you, always have, always will."

"Goodbye," she said as she let go of him.

"See ya, kid," he said then ruffled her hair before walking away.

* * *

"Took you long enough," a familiar voice said to Qrow as he walked down the alley. "It's not nice to keep someone waiting, especially family."

"Well, some people are more important than you, Raven," he said taking his flask from his belt before taking a drink. From a dark corner of the alley, a woman with long black hair and red eyes wearing a magic chainmail suit and an assortment of red armor consisting of gauntlets greaves and a chestpiece. On her belt was a red ōdachi that despite it's length, Qrow knew could be drawn at fast enough speeds to deflect an arrow. "So, why are you in Atlas, and why now do you decide to show your face?"

"A lot has changed since I left, and not for the better," she told him as she approached. "Dark forces are converging here and are a danger to everyone, including the tribe. You should come back."

"They'll be fine," he said leaning against the wall before taking another drink from his flask. "If anything, they are the danger to everyone."

"They raised us… and you turned your back on them."

"They were killers and thieves," he told her as he went to take another drink, but Raven swatted his flask out of his hand.

"They were your family."

"You have a very skewed perception of that word," he said as he kneeled to pick up his flask before standing back up and leaning against the building. "I have a family, one that I care for, one that I would do anything for. What about you? Have you ever even seen Yang? Have you ever watched her grow? We were there when you were not, Tai, Summer, and me."

"That is not why I'm here."

"Cut the crap," Qrow said as he moved from the wall and stood in the middle of the street. "I'm talking about your daughter, not the fate of the world, or the tribe, or any of that shit. I am talking about Yang. Just once, go see her, she's at the hot springs. Talk to her, then you'll see. Be a parent, just once."

Raven was silent for a while before turning away from him as shadows consumed her body. "Maybe you should follow your own advice, brother," she said then curled over before turning into a bird and flying away.

"Yeah, shut up, it's not the same between us," he said then tried to take a drink from his flask only to realize it was empty. "Damn."

* * *

"Alright, ladies, let's do this!" Nora exclaimed as she ran into the hot springs with a towel wrapped around herself.

"It is dangerous to run in a hot spring," Pyrrha said as she followed her. "You might slip from the wet stones and injure yourself."

"She'll be fine," Blake said as she followed them. "She's agile enough, and she has a rather hard head, so she'll be able to take a hit."

"Are you two coming?" Yang asked as she made sure the towel was secured around her chest. "You showed up a bit late, but we all should head in together."

"We'll be in soon, sis," Ruby said as she removed her cloak and folded it before placing it in a basket.

"Fine then," she said as she entered the hot springs.

"Do we really have to be naked?" Weiss asked her, her own face red from embarrassment at the thought.

"Yes, otherwise you can't properly clean yourself," Ruby said to her as she removed her boot. "Yang and I would always go the the public bathhouses when we were younger and yes, it is embarrassing, but it's better than being dirty. You never really went to a bathhouse before?"

"No, my family had private baths in the castle," Weiss said to her as she took off a gauntlet, "Nobody has seen me naked before."

"Well, you shouldn't worry that much about others seeing you, and also, if we stay together long enough, we'll see each other like this more often," Ruby said with a smirk causing Weiss's face to turn an even darker shade of red. "I wonder how awkward this is for the boys?"

* * *

"So…" Jaune trailed off as he sat in the water.

"Ssh," Ren silenced him as he leaned back resting his back on the pool wall letting his long hair float in the water. "We are fine sitting in silence." From the other side of the wall, there was the sound of a crash and Nora laughing causing Ren to cringe. "Partial silence."

"Ok, no talking, I'm fine with that," he said then moved away from Ren before relaxing against the wall of the pool.

* * *

"Come on in, the water's nice," Yang said getting Ruby and Weiss's attention. The two entered the water and Yang acted like she tensed up. "Oh, that's strange, the water seems _Weiss_ -cold."

"How long have you been waiting to use that one?" Weiss asked her causing Yang to chuckle.

"Much longer than you'd think," Yang replied before a bucket sailed through the air hitting Yang in the face. "Nora, what was that for?" she asked as she rubbed her nose.

"It wasn't me," Nora said from the other side of the hot spring.

"That was a bad pun, and you know it," Blake said as she held another bucket preparing to throw it.

"Nora, what are you doing?" Pyrrha asked her as she filled a bucket before dumping it on her back washing off the soap.

"Well, I don't really get many chances like this to prank Ren," Nora told her as she tried to climb the wall between the two baths. "I can't miss it."

"Actually, I've been meaning to ask you this, but you and Ren," she began causing Nora to look at her. "Are you two…?"

"What? No! No-wah!" Nora yelled as she slipped off the wall landing on the ground. "Ow." She recovered then stretched her back. "No, we're not like that. We've always been together, but not together-together. We've known each other since we were kids, and we… grew up together, but not together-together."

"Oh, ok. I was just curious because I've only ever seen you by his side," Pyrrha told her as she walked over and entered the pool.

* * *

"So, how's your first experience in a bathhouse?" Yang asked Weiss who was sitting in the water with her knees brought up to her chest facing away from the others.

"I-it's ok, for the most part," Weiss answered her as she tilted her head down having her chin touch the surface of the water. "Though, I'm used to my private bath back home, but this is much better to clean myself than streams and rivers."

"Yeah, one would think that," she said then a large black bird with red eyes flew into the bath landing on the large stone set in the middle of the pool. "Ruby, is that Qrow's bird that came with us?"

"Huh?" Ruby asked looking over to the large stone and saw the bird. "No, that's not Qrow's. It looks like the bird that was bothering Uncle Qrow at the marketplace."

"Uncle Qrow is here? What is he doing in Atlas?"

"I don't know what he's doing in Atlas, he just said he had a mission," she answered her. "Oh, did you know Uncle Qrow is a mage?"

"He is? So I guess that means that my mom is too. Well, I guess it would make sense since dad isn't a mage for me to also have magic," Yang said as Raven cocked her head to the side.

' _So, she's a mage. What kinds of magic does she know?'_ Raven asked herself as she looked at Yang intently. ' _What kind of magic did she inherit?'_ She could feel smoke fall from her body. ' _Should I talk with her? She must hate me.'_ She stopped the smoke from falling off her body. ' _I did leave her father, but I did not leave her alone. She's so much like her father, but she is a bit too much like me.'_ She stretched out her wings before flying off. ' _I'm sorry Qrow, I can't talk with her, I just… can't.'_ As she flew from the hot springs, Ruby and Weiss exited the water to head to their rooms.

* * *

"Ok, I think I'm done here," Ren said as he exited the water wrapping his towel around his waist. "If I stay in there any longer I'll pass out from the heat."

"That actually sounds like a good idea," Jaune said in agreement as he exited the water, but soon after he managed to get out, he slipped on the wet rock causing his feet to hit Ren's knocking him off balance.

Jaune managed to land on his back hitting the stone hard. Then Ren landed on Jaune causing him to cringe as Jaune elbowed him in the abdomen. The two were motionless for a couple moments before Ren started to pick himself up before freezing at the sight of his towel besides them both.

"Jaune, look at me," Ren said looking him in the eyes.

"What are you talking abou-" he asked as he began looking downward.

"Look at me," he interrupted him as Jaune looked back up to Ren's eyes. "I am going to slowly get up. You need to keep looking me in the eyes until I retrieve my towel."

"Ok, I can do that," Jaune said as Ren slowly began picking himself up.

From the wall, unbeknownst to them, Nora managed to climb up the barrier between the two baths. As her head popped over the wall, she caught the sight of Ren on top of Jaune with both hands on each of his sides. "Ha!" she shouted catching the attention of both guys.

"Nora!" Ren yelled at her as he jumped up off Jaune only to be tripped by the bard's legs and the wet rock falling back into the water. That entire spectacle caused Nora to laugh and Jaune reach down covering himself up. Then Nora managed to laugh too much causing her to lose her grip and fall off the wall with a loud crash.

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Weiss asked Ruby as they were relaxing in their room. "it sounded like someone crashed into a pile of buckets."

"Nora?"

"Yeah, it was probably Nora," she replied. Moments later she could hear the sounds of two people walking past their door and one of them was laughing. "Yeah, it's Nora."

"So, if Nora and Pyrrha are out of the hot springs, that means that Blake is the only one with Yang," Ruby said as she looked back at the door.

"Actually, no," a voice said from behind the two causing them to look and see Blake in the corner of the room grabbing a book. "I left the hot spring before you two. Don't worry, I'll be leaving, I just needed to take back that book you borrowed." She then headed to the door before opening it. "Good night."

"Good night, Blake," Ruby said as she waved to Blake as she closed the door behind herself before heading across the hall. She then turned to Weiss. "So, I've been thinking, what are we going to do after all this is over?"

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked her, somewhat confused.

"After we deal with things at Fort Mantle, what do we do then?" Ruby asked her. "I'm sure you'd head back to Franwell with your family, but I probably wouldn't be able to follow. You're a princess, and I'm a commoner."

"We'll make it work," Weiss said as she walked over and placed her hands on Ruby's shoulders. "I might be able to convince my father to allow me to continue travelling."

"There is another option," Ruby said then silent for a bit before continuing. "I could possibly travel to Atlas and become a knight then we can be together. I'm sure with my skill, I could become a knight at the castle."

"Well, you probably wouldn't start at the castle. You might train to be a knight in the city," she said then thought of a solution, "but if I put in a good word with my father, he might allow you to skip the training and be stationed at the castle. The job may be difficult, but I'm sure you'll pick it up after a while."

"I am a fast learner," Ruby said confidently as she gave Weiss a smile.

"So, instead of talking about what we should do for the future, or focusing on travelling to Fort Mantle, maybe we should focus on what we should do tonight?" Weiss asked as she reached over to hold Ruby's hand.

"Well, we are alone," Ruby said with a smile as she pulled Weiss's hand closer to herself before leaning in to kiss her. Just as their lips connected, the door to their room immediately opened.

* * *

"Damn, why didn't anyone take me out of the hot springs when they left?" Yang asked herself as she tried to walk down the hallway only to keep nearly slamming into the wall due to dizziness from the heat. "Which room was mine and Blake's? I think it was seventh room on the left, or was it the right?"

She kept walking down the hallway counting the doors, but was distracted by the sounds of Jaune and Ren arguing. She then lost count of which room she had passed, so she had to turn around and count the doors. After figuring out where she was, she quickly made her way to the seventh rooms.

Looking to the two doors, due to her dizziness, she nearly fell into the right door. "Ok then… I guess this is my room," she deliriously said as she opened up the door and took a step in. She was immediately greeted by the sight of Ruby and Weiss kissing. "What is… what is… what is happening here?" she asked them as she took another step into the room, but before she could get an answer from them, she fell to the ground and passed out.

* * *

 **Ok, lot of stuff happened in this chapter, so let's recap.**

 **Group gets off the ship after dealing with Blake going feral. They meet the rest of SSSN introducing themselves (enter Neptune doing noble things). Qrow put up a mission request from 'Commander Ironwood' then see's Ruby and Weiss accepting their relationship. Raven appears and Qrow calls her a bad mom. Hot springs stuff (to be honest, at that point Delirious Van began to take over). Horrible Yang pun. Jaune and Ren have an uncomfortable moment. Ruby considers becoming a knight. Then Yang found out about Ruby and Weiss's relationship.**

 **I think I covered all I needed.**

 **I know I'm making Raven seem different from canon. I did borrow a couple lines from Volume 4 chapter 4 with their exchange. It seemed fitting. Anyway, did anyone catch what I hinted at in that scene. It wasn't exactly hidden, but it wasn't blatantly said.**

 **So, with this calm chapter done, I can get back to the serious arc. I have been planning this for a long time, and I really hope I can get it done properly. It is going to be a semi-long arc, spanning over four to six chapters unless I decide to do some really long chapters.**

 **So, I will see you later.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	53. Sibling Talks and Yang Finds Out

**Alright, new chapter today finished a bit earlier than normal. Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. So, I know I said I was going to start the Fort Mantle arc this week, but I realized that I needed to do this chapter of Yang finding out about WhiteRose.**

 **So, you guys have figured out that I'm making Qrow Ruby's dad. As I said at the end of the previous chapter, it wasn't _that_ hidden, but it wasn't blatantly said. I know it is not confirmed in canon, and it probably isn't true in canon, but I like the theory, so I'm going with it. Also, I have been working on the backstory about what happened in the past, which I guess is kind of alluded to in this chapter.**

 **Also, before I get to the reviews, I think I changed Raven a bit much from canon, and I'm sure you guys won't get too mad to actually have a somewhat caring mother figure for the girls that's alive, other than I guess Goodwitch. So, my reasoning for this with Raven is that she kind of is a bit more personal around Qrow or in her thoughts, but around others she's going to be cold, kind of like in canon.**

 **Reviews:**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Oh, she saw.**

 **Yaksher: Yeah, I decided to just go along with the Qrow being her dad theory. Depending on how you look at it, it could be hinted at in canon, but so far it's not. I have a decent plot line planned for the future, and if RoosterTeeth confirms the theory, I can say I called it, and if not, I can say, 'well, ok then, this is an AU for a reason.'**

 **Guest: Yeah, I decided to put the spin on it with Qrow turning into a crow and Raven turning into a raven. _Totally_ original, I know. I do know that when RWBY started the creators did say they are not cousins, but creators of shows do change their minds every once in a while. Also, the creators wouldn't just confirm the twist they had been planning just because some people brought it to them.**

 **KibaPT: Well yes, but newborn babies look like potatoes anyway, so it doesn't count. Sorry about making you use a guest account for that, I just posted that update so the notification would be sent out so people knew I did the previous update.**

 **TheHuntress77: Well, there aren't really rules about whether or not guys don't care about showing their genitals. In all reality, it depends on their decision about if they want to show it to others or not. I'm a straight guy with a decent sized... this is getting a bit too weird. Basically, it was for comedy's sake, and it depends on the person's opinion whether or not they care about showing.**

 **Kayda-Star (review on chapter 1 for some reason): Comedy ensues.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

As Raven flew west from the hot springs, she looked over the port city seeing the people travelling between the taverns and inns. Shortly after she was halfway over the town, she felt something land on her back. When she looked up she saw a slightly smaller black bird she could instantly recognize as Qrow from his cocky stance.

Sighing, she tilted her wings allowing her to fly at the local church. She landed on the bell tower and Qrow hopped off moving several feet away. They both began shapeshifting letting black smoke fall off their bodies into the wind before they were human again.

"Qrow, never ride on my back ever again," Raven told him as she sat down on the ledge of the bell tower.

"You and I used to do that all the time growing up," he said with a smirk before he sat down on the ledge a few feet away from her. "So, how'd it go?"

"I couldn't do it, I couldn't talk to her," she said resting her elbows on her knees.

"Heh, figured," he said as he took out his flask to take a drink. "Did you know the brew in this town is terrible? I had to refill after you knocked my flask into the street."

"You were wrong, by the way."

"Hmm?" he asked looking over mid-drink.

"I have seen Yang before. Once a year, I would travel back to Patch and visit her," she said surprising Qrow. "Each time I would visit I made sure she was alive and well." She paused as her hand tightened into a firm grip. "After I heard that Summer… disappeared, I checked up on you-"

"Then why didn-"

"Did you really think me showing up would've made your life any better?" she asked looking at him. "I stayed to make sure you didn't do anything stupid, and I was sure you needed a break from your bad luck."

Qrow was silent for a bit before he closed his flask holding it in his hand. "Thank you, but you still could have tried," he said before looking out over the city. "I wasn't going to do anything stupid. Sure, Tai was Ruby's 'father,'" he emphasized using air quotes, "but I wasn't going to do anything to lose her. She is the only part of her mother I had left, and I couldn't risk losing her by going out into the world searching for whatever had taken Summer from me."

"And yet, Taiyang is her 'father.'"

"We all agreed it was the best option," Qrow said as he looked to her with a slight glare. "You and I both know that my magic isn't ideal for raising a family. Unlike you, my crystal shattered when it was being forged into my scythe and I couldn't control my luck magic. So, Ruby gets to have the parents she needed, and I was fine with being just the uncle. I get to see my daughter, and she doesn't get hurt by accidents."

"Maybe we're just bad parents," she suggested raising her hands up resting her chin on her thumbs.

"Maybe," he agreed as he opened his flask before taking a drink.

* * *

"What do we do?" Weiss asked Ruby as she let go of her before running to the door where Yang was laying unconscious. "She saw us, she definitely saw us. Ruby, what are we going to do?"

"I don't know, I don't know," she frantically said as she followed Weiss to the door before grabbing Yang's arm. "First, we need to get her out of the hallway, otherwise someone might get suspicious."

"Right," she said as she grabbed Yang's other arm helping Ruby drag her in before closing the door. "Now what?"

"I don't know, I haven't thought this far ahead."

"Maybe we could hit her head really really hard so she forgets," Weiss said shocking Ruby. "It's just a suggestion."

"No, it wouldn't work, her head is too hard for that to work," Ruby said then the two paused before looking at each other before laughing. "Ok, ok, so instead of beating her head in, maybe we should wait until she wakes up to find out what she knows. She was pretty loopy when she walked in, so she might not even remember what happened before she passed out."

"What do we do if she remembers?"

"Well, we have time," she smirked. "We could find a rock."

* * *

"So, what are you going to do from here on out?" Qrow asked his sister as she passed his flask back to him.

"I'm going to continue to investigate what I came here for," she answered him as she squinted to look at the horizon. "Last I heard, a Witch of the Wilds is near. If I am correct, she may be working with the White Fang here in Atlas."

"This witch wouldn't be named 'Cinder,' would she?" he asked causing Raven to look back at him. "I'll take that as a 'yes.'"

"How did you know-"

"Cinder is after Ruby's silver eyes," he answered her. "Ozpin and I don't know all the details yet, but Cinder is working with the White Fang and a thief known as Roman Torchwick. While she helps the White Fang, Torchwick is sent to collect people with silver eyes as part of his job."

"Why is Cinder helping the White Fang?"

"I don't know for sure, but we suspect she is working with someone close to the royal family to eliminate the Schnees using the White Fang. Then the person put on the throne is in debt to Cinder. That's most of what have," he explained as he took a drink. "You could come back to Fort Beacon. We could use your help. Not to mention, you're the only person we know of who isn't an enemy that can open portals. Fast travel across Remnant would be useful for searching for where Cinder is or if she's working with someone else."

"I'll have to decline," she answered him as she stood up. "I have priorities aside from finding out who was responsible for the murder of the Queen of Atlas. Goodbye, Qrow. It was… nice to see you again." Her body was consumed in smoke before a black bird flew off the building and into the night.

"Yeah, sure," he said jumping off the bell tower before shapeshifting.

* * *

"Ow, my head," Yang cringed as she opened her eyes. Looking around she saw that she was not in her room.

"I thought we said we weren't going to hit her head in the head?" she could hear Ruby say from behind her.

"I didn't hit her in the head, she must've hit herself when she passed out," she heard Weiss say. "Anyway, the rock is on the other side of the room."

"I was joking when I said that!" Ruby nearly yelled at her. "We're not killing my sister."

"It wouldn't kill her, her head can take a beating."

"Hey!" Yang shouted getting their attention as she stood up. "What's going on here?"

"Yang, just what did you see last night?" Ruby asked as she approached her sister.

"Well, I remember leaving the hot springs, then I opened the door, but I don't exactly remember, it's kind of a blur," Yang said rubbing her temples as both Weiss and Ruby sighed in relief.

"Ok, so she didn't see us," Weiss said to Ruby silent enough so only she could hear.

"Wait," Yang interjected causing both of them to freeze up. "When I walked into this room I saw you two…" She paused as she remembered what happened. "Weiss, Ruby, why were you two kissing?"

"Ah, w-well, y-you see," Ruby managed to say before she bolted across the room and grabbed the rock before running at her sister. Weiss saw her do this and quickly bolted in front Yang before Ruby could hit her.

Weiss then managed to get behind Ruby and hooked her arms before lifting the redhead off the ground. "Ruby! I thought you said we weren't going to kill her?!"

"She saw us! Weiss, she saw us!" Ruby yelled as she tried to place her feet on the ground. "Anyway, it shouldn't kill her, just knock the memory out of her head. Then we don't have to tell her."

"Tell me what?" Yang asked as she walked over and took the rock from Ruby's hand. "Ruby, I saw you and Weiss kissing when I entered the room. What is going on?"

"Nothing Yang, it's…" Ruby trailed off as she calmed down and Weiss let her down. "Yang, please don't hate me, but Weiss and I are in a relationship. We have been for a while."

"Ruby, you like girls?" Yang asked her sister confused. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know how you would react," she nervously said as she took a step back.

"When did this happen?" Yang asked both of them as she crossed her arms.

"Well, it was after I was possessed," Ruby said wrapping her arms around herself and looking off to the side.

"What?!"

"We didn't tell you or anyone because there was so much going on at the time," Weiss said to her which only caused her to get more angry.

"So, while I was terrified from what I saw while we were in the Fade after remembering fake memories of destroying our home, you were what, making out by the campfire?" Yang asked Ruby, her eyes turning red.

"Well, actually…" Ruby trailed off.

"You were, weren't you?" Yang asked her. "What else are you hiding from me?"

"Yang, please-"

"There _is_ something else, isn't there?"

Ruby was silent for a bit as she couldn't turn to face her. Weiss walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder causing her to sigh before answering Yang. "Yes, there is something else," she said as she reached up to hold Weiss's hand. "I've decided that after all this is over, I'm going with Weiss to Northern Atlas to become a knight so that we can be together."

"What?" Yang asked surprised as her eyes shifted back to their original color. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, I am serious," Ruby told her. "With Weiss being a princess, she's going back to the capital city after this is over. If we are to be together, then I would have to travel to Atlas."

"And you're just going to leave your life on Patch behind? What about dad? What about me?"

"I… I didn't know. I thought you guys would understand, I just couldn't think of how I would tell you," she said as she started to tighten her grip on Weiss's hand. "Yang, you're my sister, I've always cared about you, and you've always been there to support me. Please, can you-"

"I-I don't know, Ruby," Yang said as she turned from the two. "This is a bit much to find out all at once. I-I need some time to think." She then left the room not seeing as Ruby began tearing up.

* * *

After Yang left the room, she collected her gear before leaving to the hot springs. She then got Bumblebee from the stables before heading into the town. She made her way to the market district.

' _How did this happen?'_ Yang asked herself as she walked down the street leading Bumblebee. ' _This is Ruby, she never was interested in anyone before, then now she-'_

"You seem to have a bit on your mind," a familiar voice said getting her attention. She turned and saw Qrow standing at a jewelry stand purchasing a ruby necklace before placing it in one of his side pouches.

"Uncle Qrow, how did you get here?" she asked him as she approached him.

"Same as you," he smirked, "took a ship. So, what's wrong, Firecracker?"

"It's Ruby, she's-" Yang said before she stopped herself. "She and Weiss, they-"

"They're an item," he said surprising her.

"You know?"

"I found out accidentally, just like I found out about Ruby being possessed by a demon," he told her. "So, you just found out, right?"

"Yeah, it was… surprising," she said looking off to the side. "I didn't know what to say when she told me."

"So, you ran." The silence from her was his answer. "Thought so. You do realize how hard it must've been for her to tell you? You mean a lot to her, so by you running away, she probably thinks you don't approve."

"It's not that I don't approve, I just don't understand how it happened."

"What's not to understand? Ruby found someone she wants to be with."

"But they're both girls."

"And should that matter?" he asked her. "Love is something special. I know some people may not like relationships between two people of the same gender, but why should that matter?"

"Well…" she trailed off as she couldn't think of a reason against it.

"Yang, tell me, do you care about Ruby?" he asked her as he leaned against a nearby wall.

"Yes, I do," she immediately said.

"Then why should it matter if Weiss is the one Ruby decides to be with?" he asked her causing Yang to pause and think. "Trust me, it is Ruby's decision to be with Weiss, not yours. The best thing you can do now is support her. She's a strong girl, but she needs all the support she can get."

"Ok, I think I understand," she said as she looked away for a second. Qrow smirked as he noticed this, so he quickly curled over emanating smoke from his body as he shapeshifted into a crow. When Yang looked back, the smoke had dissipated, so she looked completely confused as to where Qrow went. "Uncle Qrow?"

' _Don't worry, kid. I think you've figured it out,'_ Qrow thought as he took flight.

After looking for Qrow a little bit, Yang stopped and sighed. ' _What am I going to do? Ruby's probably feeling betrayed right now. What can I do?'_ she asked herself as she slumped against the wall sitting down. After a short time, Bumblebee walked over and nuzzled against her owner. "Hey," she said placing a hand on Bumblebee's nose looking up, "Don't worry, I'm fine." She then looked ahead and saw a certain market stand. "I think I found a solution."

* * *

"Ok, so, why are there so many adventurers gathered here?" Jaune asked as the group, minus Yang, approached the Adventurers' Guild building on horseback. In the back of the group was Weiss and Ruby with the redhead wearing her hood up in order to cover her face.

"This seems peculiar," Pyrrha said as they each got off their horses. "Jaune, Blake, you two and I'll head inside and check this out. The rest of you stay out here and keep an eye out for Yang, we can't leave her in this town."

"When did she become the leader?" Nora asked Ren as the three entered the building.

"Well, she does have the most combat experience out of all of us, and she's the rank of an elite knight," Ren reasoned with her.

"Ren, you're supposed to agree with me," Nora complained as she set her hammer down on the ground before sitting on the head of the weapon.

"Since when?" he asked her as he leaned against the shaft.

As the two childhood friends continued their conversation, Ruby and Weiss were seated on a bench a short distance away. Ruby pulled her own cloak tighter around herself as Weiss wrapped an arm around her shoulders having the younger girl rest her head on Weiss's shoulder. Since they were both silent and looking at the ground, they didn't notice as a familiar horse approached the two before the rider hopped off and grabbed a large bag from the saddle.

"Hey," Yang said as she approached the two causing them to look at her surprised. Weiss was about to snap at her, but she cut her off. "I have something to say." She sighed as she placed the bag on the ground. "I'm sorry I ran off. I know it must have seemed pretty bad, and I feel terrible." She walked forward nearing Ruby whose eyes were red from crying. "I'm so sorry," she said as she leaned forward hugging her sister. "I didn't know how to react, so I ran. I didn't mean to hurt you, and I don't know how hard it must be for you, but I want you to know I will be there for you," she turned her head to look at Weiss, "both of you."

Ruby reached up to pull Yang into a tight hug. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you sooner," Ruby said as she buried her head in her sister's shoulder. "I didn't know how I would tell you, and it scared me."

"It's okay, it's okay," Yang said as hugged her sister tighter. "You don't have to worry. Whatever you decide to do, I will support you the entire way."

"Thank you, Yang," Ruby said as the sisters broke from the hug. She then looked down to the bag. "Yang, what's in the bag?"

"Well," she said as she took a couple steps backwards to pick up the bag before opening it up to the two, "if you two are going to be together," her signature grin then began to grow, "I'm sure a single sized tent would be a bit cramped."

* * *

 **Ok, so there we go. Raven learns some stuff while catching up with Qrow. I confirmed that Qrow is Ruby's dad (because I want to!). Weiss and Ruby contemplate murder. Yang finds out about Weiss and Ruby's relationship and kind of freaks out before accepting them.**

 **So yeah, that was interesting. Now then, we can finally get to the Fort Mantle arc. I have been planning this for a while and I even came up with how a whole chapter is going to be including the name, mostly from listening to music. I'm sure everyone has had a moment similar to this, but when listening to awesome rock music, I imagine fight scenes, which is how I came up with some of my fight scenes for this story. So basically for the next few weeks when I'm writing the long story arc, I'm going to listen to so much music.**

 **Now then, I'm going to get a decent amount of sleep for the first time in a while.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	54. Travelling to Fort Mantle

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. So, this chapter does kind of move fast, but I needed to get this done.**

 **I do have something to say after this chapter is over, so I'm going to go through this fast.**

 **Reviews:**

 **loganhunter2: Wow, my emails are going nuts from the amounts of emails, but yes, Nora's introduction was a bit dark, and yes there is a black knight, but it might be a while before you read this.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Sleep is a mysterious thing that very few manage to obtain.**

 **Kayda-Starr: Probably a million questions a minute. Though, if you were to hit her, I'm sure you'll end up with a broken hand, especially if it was Princess and the Rose Yang.**

 **Nakfyre: You know, when I saw this review the first time, I apparently mentally put in a 'not' between 'probably' and 'your.' Which confused me until now when I have the reviews set on half my screen. I even had a rant planned about how I was rushing the chapter that day. I know Qrow being Ruby's dad isn't anything new for this story, but I figured I might as well just have a sibling talk between the Branwen twins. See now, the usual portrayal of Yang as an automatically accepting person would probably be accurate in canon, but this AU is set in medieval times where being gay was seen a sin that in some cases is punishable by death. Since Yang was raised on an island with just about everything being quote on quote 'normal,' so something different was confusing to her.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Of course nobody behind the counter will talk to me," Pyrrha said throwing her hands up in frustration. "' _That information is only available to adventurers.'_ Well, if something serious is going on, a knight will be more effective than an adventurer."

"Well, for those of us who are technically adventurers," Blake said as she and Jaune approached Pyrrha, "we think we've found why everyone is gathered here."

"Apparently, some knight put out a request on order from Commander Ironwood for assistance from adventurers so that they would come help defend the King of Atlas from an imminent attack from the White Fang," Jaune explained to her as he held up one of the many fliers handed out to adventurers. "The request also says that there will be a substantial reward based on merit during the battle. Apparently, requests that are put out from Commander Ironwood are rumored to pay out a nice amount of gold for a menial request like taking care of goblins."

"And yet knight missions for dealing with grimm griffons pay with silver," Pyrrha commented as she crossed her arms in front of herself. "Maybe I should have gone into adventuring instead of becoming a knight."

"Well, with your skill, I could see you as both an adventurer and a knight," a voice said to them causing them to turn and see Qrow leaning against a table taking a drink from his flask before cringing and closing it. "Damn ale on this continent is terrible."

"Qrow?" Jaune asked as the three of them approached the elite knight.

"Qrow… the Elite Knight of Vale called Scarecrow?" Pyrrha asked him.

"Yeah, was she not informed on this information?" Qrow asked as he pointed at Pyrrha. "Right, she wasn't with you guys during the whole ordeal at Squall's End."

"Your group actively travels with an elite knight?" Pyrrha asked before pausing and turning to Qrow and quickly bowing. "Sir."

"Quit it with the formalities," Qrow said waving her off. "And yes, I have traveled with them for a little bit, but not very often. Yang and Ruby are my nieces, and I taught Ruby everything she knows, except for the fencing bit, the princess taught her the fencing bits. Seems unnecessary."

"Then I have you to thank for the pain in my sides from my fight with Ruby," she said as she rubbed her side. "You trained her well."

"Yeah, well, she wanted to learn how to fight grimm. Then she adapted it to fighting people without killing them," he said with a smirk. "If she would've learned how fight people from me, well, you might've lost that fight."

"Sure," Pyrrha said as Qrow took another drink from his flask before cringing again.

"Wait," Jaune said as he caught sight of the symbol on Qrow's flask. He then looked at the flyer and saw the same wing symbol near the bottom. "You, you were the one who put up the request."

"Of course, Jimmy is too proud to ask for help," he told them as he attached his flask to his belt. "The White Fang is going to attack the fort, and they are going to need all the help they can get. Also, the easiest way to sneak the princess in is to bring her in a large group. From what I've heard from these adventurers is that they are forming a convoy to travel to the fort. Apparently, there have been monster attacks on the roads, so they need a large group of people to easily fend off monsters."

"So, you planned this so you could quietly return Weiss to her father while bringing more fighters to the fort while they guard her," Jaune said resting his hand under his chin thinking. "It's not a bad plan."

"Well, I didn't come up with it," he said confusing the others as he stood up. "I'm under orders from _Commander_ Ozpin. He told me to make my way to Atlas and put up that request. He also had me put up a request in Vale for some reason. I don't understand why he would bring his army into Fort Beacon, but he said it was to help Fort Mantle." He then began walking towards the door adjusting his belt to make sure his sword was secured. "Now then, I have to get going. I'll see you kids later. I have things I need to do."

"I thought the Scarecrow had a scythe," Pyrrha said as Qrow exited the building and closed the door behind him.

"He has it on the back of his belt. It collapses," Blake explained as someone opened the door just after it closed revealing that Qrow had disappeared.

"Seems like it would have structural integrity," she commented as the three of them began walking towards the door. "A solid piece would not break as easily as smaller parts put together into one."

"Well, I'm sure he's thought that through," Jaune told her as they exited the building.

When they left the building, the three of them immediately saw all of the adventurers packing up their gear, loading them onto their wagons, and getting into carriages. Looking around, they found the rest of their group, including Yang, all loading their gear onto their horses' saddlebags.

"Hey guys, the adventurers are forming a convoy to go to the fort," Blake said as they approached the others. "We need to go along with them so we can get Weiss into the fort in secret. The White Fang is going to attack the fort soon, so we need to get there as soon as we can."

"Right, let's go!" Nora exclaimed as she jumped on Honeybunch's back as her horse reared back.

"Nora, the convoy isn't leaving yet," Ren said as he calmly mounted Lotus. "We should wait for the others before riding off."

"Come on, we should go now," Nora complained as she and Ren started riding towards the convoy.

"So, we should get ready then," Yang said as she placed the large tent on the back of Chestnut's staddle. The horse then turned around then faced Yang, she then huffed in her faced blowing the brawler's hair back. "Hey, I already said I was sorry." Another huff. "Hey, stop it."

"Actually, where were you, Yang?" Jaune asked her as he started to load his gear onto Clovis's saddlebags. "When we left the hot springs, we couldn't find you."

"I, uhh…" Yang trailed off as she looked to Ruby and saw a black bird land on her sister's shoulder before sitting down, "had some thinking to do. Though, I'm back now. We should get going."

"Actually, we probably should," Pyrrha said as she approached them before turning towards Ruby and Yang. "From what we've found out, your uncle is working with Commander Ozpin and has put up a request in the guild so that adventurers would be travelling to Fort Mantle."

"Why would he do that?" Yang asked her as she looked at the knight.

"Well, apparently it's for Weiss," Jaune said looking to the princess. "Since we're travelling to the fort, if we travel in a small group we're more likely to be targeted by the White Fang, and there are monsters on the road. So if we're supposed to get you into the fort safely, then having other fighters with us would be safer."

"Wait, if Qrow put up the request, then the soldiers at Fort Mantle wouldn't know a large group of adventurers are coming to their gates," Yang said as she mounted Bumblebee.

"That might not turn out great, the Atlesian Military may attack a large group of people approaching their fort," Weiss said as she looked at the convoy. "If my father is paranoid right now, he might order an attack on any group of people approaching the fort that is not a military convoy. Somehow, I need to get a message to my father not to attack us."

"Alright!" a voice shouted from the other side of the guild's square. The group turned and saw a man with white hair and green eyes wearing a suit of plate armor with two swords on his back addressing the group of adventurers. "The convoy is leaving! We should arrive at Fort Mantle shortly after dark! The road may be dangerous, but if we work together, we can help defend our king and our country from the White Fang!" He drew his longsword and raised it in the air causing every other adventurer to cheer in response.

"We need to travel with them," Blake said as she mounted Nightmare when the convoy began moving. "We can figure out how to send a message to the soldiers while on the road."

"Right," Weiss said pulling up her hood as she and Ruby mounted their respective horses. "Let's go."

* * *

Several hours into the ride, the sun began to set. Due to the seasons changing, the air became much colder as night fell. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang were fine due to the enchantment on their chainmail, but Yang's side was slightly colder due to a tear in the chainmail from the attack by the nevermore on the ship. The others began pulling their cloaks closer to themselves as the group began riding further up the convoy.

"So, should we ride ahead and tell the soldiers to open the gates?" Ruby suggested.

"No, I think if we start riding ahead, the others in the convoy would speed up in order to keep up with us," Pyrrha said as she looked over to the sides of the dirt road in order to watch for threats before looking at the reaper. "Ruby, that bird on your shoulder has been with us since the ship. I believe you mentioned that your uncle's birds are trained. Could we possibly send it ahead with a message?"

"Well, Uncle Qrow's birds are trained by him, and I don't think they will listen to me," Ruby said as she looked at the bird on her shoulder. "Though we could try, it wouldn't hurt."

' _You know, my birds just come to me,'_ Qrow said to her with a couple caws as he raised his leg before gesturing to it with his beak. ' _While I do hate being a messenger bird, I will take your message to Fort Mantle.'_

"Ok, I think Crow will take the message for us. Does anyone have paper and something to write with?" Ruby asked as she reached for her pack. Suddenly, from further down the road there were higher pitched yells from further down the road that could be heard. "Ok, what was that?"

"Goblins," Jaune said as he reached over drawing his sword.

"Goblins?" Yang asked looking over to him.

"Nasty pieces of filth," he said as other adventurers began drawing their weapons. "They're native to both continents of Atlas, but there have been some reports in Mistral, but never in Vale. They are generally easy to defeat, but they're deadly in large numbers."

"Damn," Weiss cursed under her breath before howling could be heard from the back of the convoy. "Damn it! We've got grimm!"

' _Considering the circumstances, we don't have much time,'_ Qrow thought as he took off of Ruby's shoulder flying down the road. Shortly after he was ahead of the convoy, Qrow could see the pale bodies of thirty goblins signalling to others in the trees to come out. Near the trees, he could see the dead bodies of Atlesian knights wearing blood stained armor that seemed to be dragged partway into the forest.

He quickly began shapeshifting flying up in the air before his body returned to its human shape. Drawing his sword with his left hand and extending his scythe with his right, he landed in front of the waist-high monsters. Bending forward, he swung the scythe at the goblins cutting through five of them before following through with the swing.

Then with the backswing of his sword, he sliced through three more monsters. One of the goblins raised their club before jumping at Qrow. He quickly stopped his spin before planting one foot in front of himself to push backwards and avoid the strike. Then he countered by swinging his sword upwards cutting the goblin in half vertically. He raised his sword above himself before throwing it forward impaling through two goblins' chests stabbing into the ground.

Taking his scythe in both hands, Qrow immediately lunged forward swinging the deadly weapon. The scythe managed to cut through ten of the remaining goblins before he pivoted on his foot spinning around to swing again. The second slash cut through six of the goblins as Qrow let go of his scythe with one hand in order to retrieve his sword to cut through the last three goblins.

Collapsing his scythe securing it to the back of his belt, he jumped in the air sheathing his sword as he began shapeshifting. The knight was consumed in smoke before his bird form resumed flying down the road. That wouldn't stop all the goblins, but it would reduce the number of monsters the convoy would have to deal with.

* * *

"Son of a bitch!" the white haired leader of the convoy cursed as he had to kick another goblin away from his horse.

"Logan, we need to fight these things," another adventurer said to him as he used his spear to stab into a goblin's head. "We can get off our horses and kill these goblins

"No, we have to get this convoy moving, we're sitting ducks right now," Logan told him as he slashed through three goblins. "Erdin, if we can get our convoy through the goblins, we can ride straight to the fort."

"Hey," Yang said getting their attention as the group managed to ride up to the two adventurers. "We have grimm from behind the convoy coming up fast."

"Fuck!" Logan shouted in frustration as he sheathed his longsword before grabbing at his second sword. As soon as his grip tightened on the hilt, the pommel of the longsword began to glow orange. He drew his longsword revealing flames coming off the blade. He turned to the group. "You eight, we need to break through these goblins! Help or get out of the way!" He jumped off his horse and began slashing through the goblins.

"Right!" Yang shouted as she slapped her hands together creating two fireballs before throwing them into the horde of goblins. She then jumped off her horse into the group of goblins punching the monsters.

"Guys we just need to clear a path," Weiss said from Snowflake's back as she drew her rapier sending off several icicles into the horde. "Yang, you and Logan handle the goblins on the ground. Ruby, use your crossbow, take down as many as you can. Blake, you're a swift fighter, try and take out as many as you can from the front. Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, Ren, you four head to the back of the convoy and help defend from grimm."

"Got it," Pyrrha said as the four of them turned their horses around and began riding to the back of the convoy.

"Ok, Weiss," Ruby said as she pulled her crossbow from her back firing off a bolt into the horde flying through several goblins killing them before the bolt imbedded itself into the ground.

"Weiss?" Erdin asked, but before he could question any further a goblin jumped at him, so he had to thrust his spear into the monster's chest.

Blake jumped off Nightmare's back leaping over Logan's horse above the goblin horde as she threw her kusarigama's sickle end into the middle of the horde before tugging on the chain pulling herself to the ground. Letting go of her chain, she grabbed the hilt of her katana before she landed. Then she drew her sword while she spun around cutting through each goblin near her in a circle.

After burning through a small group of nearby goblins, Yang took a moment to slowly scrape her hands together coating both her hands in red fire. Then she began punching the closest goblins to her only to have several more try to charge her.

"We're getting nowhere!" Erdin shouted to Logan who was slashing through several goblins while trying to throw them off his back. "Logan, we need to break through NOW!"

"I know! Everyone get back to the convoy!" Logan shouted in response as he spun around slashing through many nearby goblins managing to throw them off his back. He crossed his arms in front of himself while taking a deep breath. He then whipped his arms off to his side as Blake managed to jump back to the convoy. "Ag ko faal NIL!" he shouted then suddenly a large blast of fire shot from his mouth burning through many goblins managing to burn through the horde to the other side. "Now!" he shouted to them as he fell to his knees.

"Blonde lady, get Logan!" Erdin shouted to Yang as the convoy began riding through the opening.

Yang looked over and saw Logan collapsed on the ground. She quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him over her shoulder before running back placing him on Bumblebee's back before she quickly mounted her horse and riding after the convoy.

"What was that?" Weiss asked Erdin as they and the rest of the group kept running down the dirt road. "If he could do that, why not do it from the start."

"Logan has special magic, but it takes its toll on him. When he shouts a powerful spell like that, he passes out," Erdin said as he turned to Weiss and saw her white hair and blue eyes. "Ms. Schnee, don't worry about Logan."

"How did you-"

"Logan and I are knights with the Atlesian Military posing as adventurers. There have been military convoys that have been attacked on their way to Fort Mantle, so Commander Ironwood sent us to investigate. When we saw the request at the guild, we knew we had to return," Erdin explained as he looked ahead of the convoy. "It was coincidence that we met you. Your father believed you were dead, but Ironwood didn't believe the reports."

"I need to get into Fort Mantle undercover," Weiss said to him confusing the knight. "You and Logan can get me to see my friends and I to see my father, we have important information for him regarding my mother's assassination."

"Alright, I can do that, hopefully the front gates are open when we get there," Erdin said looking over to Logan. "He should be awake by the time we get there."

* * *

Qrow managed to leave the tree line entering the mile long open field before the mountain fortress. The fort itself is more than just a simple fort, it was a full city built on five levels into the mountain that was built to house thousands of soldiers from invading armies and grimm alike. The walls surrounding the city were armed with catapults and cannons along with watchtowers. While the fortress is known for being the most defensible fortress on Remnant, it has one weakness that the knight knows how to exploit.

He kept flying high above the ground making sure his body blended in with the night sky. As he neared the wall, Qrow did a nosedive as he began shapeshifting. Aiming himself at the two knights on the wall, he landed on the ground in human form drawing both of his weapons placing them against the knights' throats so they wouldn't move.

"I am not your enemy," he said to them as he slowly removed the blades from their necks. "My name is Qrow Branwen, better known as Scarecrow, Elite Knight of Vale. There are a group of adventurers coming to these gates that are being chased by grimm. One among them is a valuable person to the royal family. So, open the gates, or I will."

* * *

 **Ok, the group is making their way to Fort Mantle. Goblins are now a thing in this universe and so are many other monsters just like liches and draugr, oh and there are grimm griffons and regular griffons along with grimm and regular dragons. Weiss meets some knights.**

 **So, I do have something I need to say right now. I am probably not going to post next week. I'm currently in the process of moving and I move out of my current house on Thursday and I might not have internet till the Tuesday after. So I'm going to be busy with that, but one more thing.**

 **I'm starting to become exhausted. I know it seems like I say this every week, but it's not just from lack of sleep. Writing is a hobby of mine, and lately it seems like it's becoming more like a terrible job. All I'm saying is that I enjoy writing, but I don't want to hit the point where I dread sitting down and writing this story. My daily life has become kinda hectic, so it just might be the exhaustion talking, but I kind of need a break. I still plan on keeping to my schedule, but next week I probably won't post. I'm not mad, I'm just tired.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	55. A Really Long Hike to Weiss's Family

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A, back from a small hiatus with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. I managed to move into my new house and we have no internet there, so I couldn't really work on the next chapter. We actually still don't, I'm just staying at my parent's house for a few days helping out.**

 **So then I took a small break like I said I would. I did manage to write this chapter, and while it isn't as good as others are, got done what I needed to in order to get this arc going.**

 **Before I get to reviews I just want to say thanks to everyone who understood that I needed a break. Trust me when I say that if I were to try and write this chapter like I usually did, it would be terrible.**

 **Reviews:**

 **Yakosh: Did you change your username recently? I thought it was Yaksher. I should be better with writing chapters now.**

 **robyork1690: I know I've missed my update day several times. Also, technically I'm missing it right now with updating this Monday morning at 3 am.**

 **STRQ: There are a lot of chapters to catch up on.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: And now that since they are at a fort based, admittedly, a lot on Minas Tirith from LOTR, they have to deal with going up the mountain side/fort city. Comedy purposes only.**

 **Eikkert: I've been trying to make a different kind of thing from canon where depending on the situation, different characters can take command, like Jaune leading the group through the swamps, or Blake taking command while Ruby and Weiss were kidnapped. Killing goblins doesn't really go against Ruby's 'no killing' rule. I know that I've said that a lot of creatures will have a grimm form, which in some cases the grimm version will be a more powerful form, but they are monsters, and I've established that Ruby doesn't kill people.**

 **ims: In order to knock out the memories.**

 **Nemasis Demarini: I've been trying to explain when I have to miss an update before, so hopefully I don't just suddenly disappear.**

 **iamking: Qrow is kind of turning out to be a kind of McGuffin. Honestly, if I had a character point that out, I would bring back the old explanation of J'vana the bad luck god and god of coincidences to move the plot forward. Also, I really like Qrow's character.**

 **TheHuntress77: Oh, there is always a chance for Bumblebee, or should I say bmblb. (I have Tumblr, otherwise I would never had heard of that song coming out.)**

 **PTKadota: Dragon Age, Skyrim, and some Lord of the Rings, like Fort Mantle is based off of Minas Tirith.**

 **loganhunter2: There are a lot of reviews, so I'm only going to answer a few questions/comments. I don't think I hinted at Blake and Jaune being together. Technically Ruby has killed someone before, but that review was from a chapter before 45. Arc can sound like roayalty, but we don't really know where Jaune's family is from. Qrow and Winter are not a thing, Qrow and Summer however.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Shortly after the convoy entered the gates, they could tell something was wrong. They came to the sight of a small company of knights preparing to fight. Before the eighty knights could engage the adventurers, Erdin and Logan quickly dismounted their horses and revealed themselves to the other knights.

"My name is Erdin Fei, and this is Logan Sorenson. We are knights of Atlas," Erdin announced as he and Logan approached the captain on the street opening their jackets revealing their knight's crests. "Tell your men to put down their arms. We are responding to the request that Commander Ironwood put up in the Adventurer's Guild. We also have an important person we need to escort to the king."

"I was given no word of a request," the captain said looking to the two knights in front of him. "I have heard of you two, the Spearman and the Dragon Slayer. I'll check with those higher up, but in the meantime, these adventurers can stay in the lower level for the night since there have been increased grimm activity as of late. Who is the person you're escorting?"

"Well, she wishes to keep her identity a secr-"

"It's fine," Weiss said as she walked forward keeping her hood up. As soon as the captain saw her facial features, he immediately kneeled in front of her. "Stand up, nobody here knows who I am, and I want to keep it that way." He looked at her raising an eyebrow as he stood up. "My friends and I have information regarding the death of my mother. We need to be brought to my father immediately."

"Of course," he replied looking to the rest of Weiss's group then to the convoy. "Sir Logan and Erdin will escort you to the fifth level. I shall remain here with my men and watch these… adventurers and make sure they don't start anything. Hopefully they don't drink all the ale in the tavern."

* * *

"So, what did he mean by Dragon Slayer back there?" Yang asked Logan as the group made their way through the second level of the fortress city. "Did you actually kill a dragon?"

"No, I haven't killed a dragon… yet," Logan told her as he quickly shot a glare to a group of knights nearing them causing them to run off to the side of the street. "My magic is different from some other types. My family's has a long history of dragon slaying, so our magic has become specialized to fighting dragons, but that's not important right now."

"Have you at least seen a dragon?"

"It's not important," he snapped back at her.

"Princess, I hope you won't mind me asking, but why did you not come to Fort Mantle after the attack on the castle?" Erdin asked her causing a few nearby knights to look at them as Logan was continually bombarded with questions.

"Please, call me Weiss, some people are looking this way," Weiss told him as Logan nearly snapped at another group of knights. "I had reasons for not coming back immediately, but I have returned now."

"Right, still vague," Erdin said looking over to Logan who was now becoming agitated from the amount of questions. "So, why do these other people have to come with?"

"They've helped me on my journey so far," Weiss said looking over to Yang and Nora who were bombarding Logan with questions. She then looked over to Pyrrha and remembered her mission. "And that person is Pyrrha Nikos, and Elite Knight from Mistral tasked with returning me to my father, so she needs to be there in order to complete her mission."

"Ok then, I guess it makes sense," he said then saw Logan ready to shout so he smirked. "Hey, hey, watch this."

"What are you talking about?"

"No! I have not seen a dragon!" Logan shouted causing everyone to back up slightly from the shout's volume.

"Ow, what the heck was that?" Weiss asked rubbing her ears.

"His magic can amplify the sound of his voice since his magic is shouting based. He also has a short temper, so it's hilarious when people get on his nerves," Erdin said chuckling a little. "He's a good fighter, but not much of a talker, so when we go on missions I have to do all the talking otherwise we'd get into much more trouble than we usually would."

"What rank are you?" Pyrrha asked as she walked towards Erdin and Weiss. "Clearly you're not a squire, but not many low ranked knights would be sent on missions. If anything, they would be sent on guard duty in towns."

"Oh man, I remember guard duty," Erdin said shuddering slightly. "That was probably the most difficult job I had."

"I don't remember it being difficult," Logan said catching what his friend had said.

"You were the reason it was difficult," Erdin snapped at him before turning to the others. "First day I met him during guard duty, I had to stop Logan from shouting a hole through a building." He paused to take a deep breath before turning to Pyrrha. "We're just average knights. Been in the military long enough that we can go on missions, but not long enough so our commanding officers don't expect much from us when we go on missions. In fact, it's surprising we were allowed to escort you to the fifth level of the fortress, usually we're only allowed on the second."

"After we're done escorting you, we'll probably be sent back down," Logan muttered as the group neared a large open gate. "And now, we are going through the third level."

* * *

"How much further is the fifth level?" Yang complained as everyone began breathing heavily, except for Ruby who had been pacing herself the entire hike as the group made their way through the fourth level of the through the fortress city. "We seriously should have brought our horses. Why didn't we bring them in the first place?"

"It would draw attention to ourselves," Blake said in between breaths.

"I thought as soon as we entered the fortress, we wouldn't need to hide that much, so why do we need to hide here?" Nora asked dragging her hammer behind her since the weight was too much for her back on the hike.

"You know, Nora actually has a point," Jaune said wiping his brow of sweat. "I know the steady incline can be easier than just taking stairs the entire way up, but going the full way can be a pain. It wouldn't be too difficult on the horses."

"So whose idea was it in the first place?" Yang asked looking around before her gaze fixated on Weiss. "Wait a second, it was you."

"Yes, it was me, ok," Weiss said tightening her hands into fists in between breaths. "After I dismounted Snowflake to talk with the captain, I followed Logan and Erdin on foot when they began walking ahead."

"We thought you wanted to walk," Logan said as he used his sheathed sword as a walking stick and Erdin used his spear in a similar fashion. "If you wanted to bring the horses, you should've said something."

"Look, next time we go up to the fifth level, we'll bring the horses," Ruby said turning back and was immediately shocked to see the look of dread on everyone's faces due to the hike.

"You don't get to act normal, Ruby," Yang said looking up to her sister. "Just because you can run faster and longer than anyone, doesn't mean you get to avoid hiking fatigue."

"You guys don't pace yourselves or breathe in a useful pattern," Ruby said as she continued to face everyone while walking backwards. "If you guys learned proper techniques, you could run as fast and as long as me. I'm not special."

"No, that's not it," Jaune said looking at her. "Your running is not normal. No person can get to those speeds. Also, how can you have this much endurance?"

"Breathing and pacing, I already told you," she said then turned around and came face to face with a large marble door. "Ok, I think we made it to the final door."

"Oh thank god," Erdin said falling to one knee. He struggled back to stand before pushing against the door only to have it not budge. "That's strange, it seems to be locked. Logan, would you kindly?"

"I hate you. Can't you ever learn to knock?" Logan asked then took a deep breath. "Bex miiraad!" His shout was more silent than his others had been, but shortly after it was silent, there was a loud clank before the large marble doors opened slightly.

"I thought he could only shout fire," Weiss commented as she watched Logan stumble slightly.

"No, his magic is shouting," Erdin commented as he took Logan's arm over his shoulder. "He speaks a different language when he shouts, and depending on what he says, the outcome could be fire, ice, summoning a storm, bolting forward, or in this case, opening a door. Then different shouts can take different tolls on him."

"Which is why I try to avoid shouting," Logan said taking deep breaths. "We escorted you all to the fifth level. The ground up here should be level, and you should have no problem finding where you're supposed to go. If any knights show up or try to attack you, the princess should easily be able to talk to them."

"Thank you for your help," Ruby said waving to them as the knights began walking away.

"No problem. Now then, we're going back down to the second level," Erdin said giving them a quick wave.

"So, we should probably hurry to that building," Ruby said pointing to the large white castle located in the center of the fifth level with blue banners hanging off the walls, one having the Schnee family crest on it and the symbol of Atlas on the other.

"Can we please just take a moment to catch our breath?" Ren asked breaking his silence from the entire walk.

"I second that," Weiss said as everyone began sitting down next to the walls. "Besides, I'm sure we would want to look presentable when meeting my father."

* * *

"What were you thinking Qrow?" Commander Ironwood asked the mage as the two argued in the small war room connected to the main hall. The commander was wearing a long white coat under a plate metal chestplate connecting to a heavily armored pauldron on his right shoulder leading down his entire arm ending with a gauntlet. "You put up a request in the Adventurer's Guild requesting for more troops here at the fortress. Then you managed to open the front gate that could have ended with the enemy walking right in. You endangered the entire city and the royal family. If you were one of my men, I'd have you executed."

"If I was one of your men, I'd fall on my own scythe," Qrow said then took a drink from his flask before cringing from the taste, "which is actually hard to do if you think about it. You have to hold it a special way."

"Enough of this bickering!" a new voice commanded walking into the war room. The two turned and saw a man with white hair and moustache walk into the room. He was wearing a fine white coat underneath a white sash that was connected to a white cape with blue lining.

"Your Highness," Ironwood greeted him raising his closed hand over his heart before slightly bowing to him.

"Hey," Qrow greeted raising his hand for a quick wave.

"Show some respect," Ironwood snapped at him as he turned to face the reaper.

"What? He's not my king," he said with a shrug.

"But he is the king of the country you are currently in."

"James, it's alright," Jacques said raising his hand motioning for him to stop. "Scarecrow, why did you put up that request in the guild?"

"I was under orders from Ozpin," Qrow explained to him before continuing. "I was told to put up the request in order to escort someone to this fort safely."

"Who?"

"Well, considering that they haven't arrived earlier, they didn't ride their horses up here for some reason," he said then looked out of a nearby window and smirked. "They should be arriving soon."

"You didn't answer my question," Jacques said then turned when he heard the sounds of footsteps approaching. Coming down the hallway was an Atlesian knight wearing a full set of polished armor with the Atlas symbol painted on over his heart.

"Your Highness," the soldier said coming into the war room panting as he quickly bowed to Jacques before standing up. "The guards spotted eight people entering the fifth level, and among them was… well, you should see for yourself. They are nearing the castle."

"What?" he asked as he followed the knight down the hallway.

"What did you do, Qrow?" Ironwood asked Qrow as he began following the king.

"Hey, she just randomly showed up on my farm," Qrow said with a shrug. "She was going to come here eventually, I just helped keep her alive so she could."

"You don't mean-"

"Yes I do, and judging by a drawer in your desk, you believed she was alive this whole time," he said as the three older men entered the main hall.

Jacques looked around the room and saw many knights scrambling around the room while some stood in front of the door preparing to deal with whatever was walking in the door. He then looked to the back of the room seeing his children standing by the throne looking confused. Winter was wearing a long white coat with a red broach, while Whitley was wearing a white coat similar to his father's and had a sash draped over his right shoulder.

"Father, what is happening," Whitely asked him as the siblings approached the three.

"I do not know," he responded then turned to Qrow. "Would you please clarify who is coming here?"

"I think it would be better to not spoil the surprise," Qrow responded with a smirk.

"Now listen here you miserable-" Winter said approaching him, but was cut off by the sound of the main doors opening.

Everyone watched as Weiss entered the main hall closely followed by the remainder of her group. As soon as the knights saw Weiss, they didn't know what to do. Some knights lowered their weapons and kneeled in front of the returned princess, others simply questioned the situation saying that they thought she had died.

"Weiss?" Jacques asked looking at her.

"Father, Whitley, Winter," Weiss said as she immediately began running down the hall towards them. Jacques and Whitley were completely motionless as they watched the person they believed was dead run towards them, but Winter took several steps forward intercepting her sister as the two hugged. "I've missed you, so much."

"I thought you were dead, we all did," Winter said as the sisters pulled out of the hug. "After we heard the news of mother, we assumed the worst. Where have you been?" She then paused as she noticed Weiss's scar. "What happened? Who did this to you?"

"Well, technically a giant statue," Weiss muttered looking off to the side before snapping back to attention. "After mother's assassination, I couldn't immediately return," he said confusing several people in the room. "I needed to take care of some things and arm myself, so I went to Vale in search of the greatest blacksmi-" she was interrupted by Qrow, Ruby, and Yang let out a quick laugh, "Taiyang Xiao Long. When I arrived on the island, I was attacked by grimm, but was saved and patched up."

"You're welcome by the way," Qrow interrupted her causing several people to shoot him a glare for interrupting her. "Fine, I'll be quiet."

"So," Weiss continued, "these people helped me in my journey. This is Yang Xiao Long, Blake Belladonna, Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, and Pyrrha Nikos, an Elite Knight of Mistral." She paused to take a quick breath. "And this is Ruby Rose, she's a good friend of mine and was the first person to save me, and she has time and time again."

"Impressive," Jacques said then took several steps away from everyone in order to sit down on his throne as Winter and Whitely moved to the front of the room standing aside their father. As he did this, all of the knights in the area, and Ironwood, moved to the side of the hall leaving the eight, and Qrow in the middle of the hall. "All of you may approach." They walked forward and stood in front the throne, except for Pyrrha who immediately kneeled causing the others to look at each other confused as to what to do. "Each of you will be rewarded for bringing my daughter back to me. Please see my steward for your reward." His eyes were then drawn to the only kneeling person in the room. "Miss Nikos, Knight of Mistral, why are you travelling with my daughter?"

"I have no need of a reward, I was ordered to by Commander Lionheart to find your daughter and return her safely in hopes this will strengthen relations between Atlas and Mistral," Pyrrha said looking up at the king.

"Very well, I shall send a missive to your commander informing him of your success."

"Thank you, your Highness."

He then looked at Ruby who was beginning to look nervous from the amount of people looking at her. "Miss Rose, you have my personal thanks for saving my daughter's life…" he trailed off as he then noticed the color of Ruby's eyes. "You have silver eyes, a rare trait."

"Uhh… thanks," Ruby said wishing she could bolt out of the room.

"Father," Weiss said getting everyone's attention after she noticed her girlfriend's nervousness. "During my journey I have learned valuable information that would be best if spoken about in private."

"What would this information be about?" he asked looking at her.

"Everything," Weiss responded confusing several people in the room. "This is something that only a few people can know about."

"Fine," he said standing up from his throne. "Weiss, you will accompany Commander Ironwood and I to the war room. Your friends may remain on the fifth level for the night as guests." He then pointed to two knights. "You two, show them to the guest quarters. Weiss come with me." He turned away from them and began walking towards the war room.

"I'll be back soon," Weiss said reaching over to Ruby holding her hand for a second before letting go and following her father.

* * *

 **Ok, so we now have Weiss reuniting with her family. I was going to have a bit more for that portion, but I'm tired, not the exhausted kind, it's just 3 a.m. almost 4.**

 **I know I kind of emphasized on Logan and Erdin in this chapter, but this is going to be a long story arc, and I don't want to constantly write in fight scenes "shouting knight' and 'spearman.' Also, I enjoy making OCs, and Logan is heavily based off of Dovahkiin from Skyrim.**

 **So, we finally get into stuff next chapter.**

 **Anyway, it's almost 4 in the morning, and I'm tired.**

 **Goodnight everyone, and have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	56. First Half of a Day

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with a late update to The Princess and the Rose. Sorry about that, I honestly didnt do this on purpose. I was just busy the past week, then I got sick which kinda screwed with my writing. Also I'm back at my house that has no internet, which meant that I had to write this whole chapter using my phone, and that is killer on the thumbs.**

 **Anyway, while this chapter is average length, I had intended for it to be much longer, but I think the ending was a good place to stop so the next chapter could get things seriously rolling. So this chapter is honestly a bit of plot development and some character background for a certain bard.**

 **I'm using my phone, so I'll try to limit the reviews:**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: it's honestly all Skyrim, the only similarities with Fairy Tail is the title of Dragon Slayer.**

 **Yakosh: I have a similar thing about not wanting family to read my stuff, though mine was due to friends trying to have a ton of input on a book I was attempting to write at the time. I put that in there as kind of covering myself so people couldn't get mad that I was borrowing aspects of the game without paying credit to the original source.**

 **iamking: thanks.**

 **Kayda-Starr: OCs are really fun. I was an OC writer before I decided to write this, and I'm a little sad that I haven't written another chapter for A BLZEing Remnant.**

 **Corkaryth: and this is why I've mentioned on several occasions that I was borrowing elementa from other game series and such. I know I basically copied how magic works from Dragon Age, but I was running out of time while writing those chapters and was playing Inquisition at the time. I had already used a demon design from the DA universe, so I figured why not just go with the Fade, which then opened up several other opportunities for future chapters like Ruby's possession. Anyway, I know it's not original, but this is Fanfictionnet.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"That's impossible," Jacques said crossing his arms in front of himself as he leaned back in his chair in the war room. "None of my brothers would even attempt to usurp my throne."

"It's not impossible," Ironwood said rubbing his chin after hearing Weiss's story. "If what your daughter is saying is true, then the White Fang is working with someone close to your family, it could even be one of your nieces or nephews. The White Fang would simply have to eliminate those ahead of their partner in the order of succession."

"There's more than that, were you not listening?" Weiss asked them. "It's not just the White Fang and the member of the royal family. The White Fang is working with a witch named Cinder. There is more going on than just the assassination of the royal family. We think that Cinder is planning something that would need a king or queen in her debt. Somehow, she managed to convince the White Fang to work with humans in order to make this happen…" Weiss trailed off as she came to a realization. "Somehow they planned this, for all of us to be in the same location. With every member of the royal family at Fort Mantle, they can attack the fort wiping out us all at once."

"I have heard reports of White Fang movements coming to South Atlas. From what I can gather, they have a large number of soldiers, but not enough to overpower us," Ironwood said as he walked over to one side of the large table with the map and moved a box to the middle. "My scouts estimate they have nine thousand men, among them are regular soldiers, mages, and assassins along with several trebuchets and siege engines."

"Nothing they have can possibly breach our walls," Jacques said sounding somewhat smug. "James, triple the guards on the outer walls. If these animals try to move on our fortress, I want us to be prepared."

"There is one more thing," Weiss said getting their attention. "After mother's assassination, the White Fang made their way to Vale and stayed at a ruin so their leader Adam Taurus could make a deal with a demon located there. My friends traveled there to investigate it, but the demon would not reveal what it had given him before we had to fight it."

"So, the demon gave this Adam Taurus some kind of artifact?" Jacques said resting his chin on his hand for a second before standing up. "James, I want you to consult with the resident arcanist and see if he can figure out what the demon could have given Taurus. I must consult our spymaster and have them begin searching into my brothers and their families." He looked at Weiss for a second before nodding to her and leaving.

"Well, I should be leaving," Weiss said as she began walking towards the door.

"Ms. Schnee, wait," Ironwood said causing Weiss to stop and turn towards him. "I know your father may not have reacted much to the news of you being alive, but you must not blame him. Currently, we are at war, and he is so focused on winning that he cannot take a moment and appreciate your return. I can tell you that I am glad you are back, and am pleased that you have grown much on this journey."

Weiss was silent before responding. "Thank you, Commander Ironwood."

"I also know you haven't told us everything," he said causing her to tense up. "While your father believes we are only at war with the White Fang, I know that is not the whole truth. I have been working with several other important members of other kingdoms in our battle against the Witch of the Wilds, Cinder Fall. Tell me, do you know about the importance of silver eyes?"

"Yes, I do," Weiss said turning to him. "I know that Ruby's eyes contain massive magic power that can be obtained by a mage if they eat them. We also know that Cinder has powerful partners in the slave trade that search for anyone with silver eyes so that she can gain more magic power."

"Precisely," he said sitting down in the chair next to the table. "For the time being, I think it would be best if your friend stays behind the walls of Fort Mantle. We can have a small group of soldiers watching her at all times in order to assure her safety."

"I don't think that is necessary," Weiss told him. "Ruby may look like she might need protection, but she can defend herself just fine. I also will be by her side for the time being, so she won't be alone." She then paused as she remembered their plans for the future. "Actually, Ruby is considering becoming a knight after all this is over. She is more skilled than the average knight, and if she does become a knight, she can be protected best if she were to be stationed at the palace."

"Hmm, interesting," he said resting his chin on right hand while looking at the map of the area. "If what you say is true, I might be able to convince your father to allow her to be a palace guard. We would have to see her skills first hand before allowing her to be a palace guard, we can't have a civilian be allowed on palace grounds." He then looked up at her. "However, if you were to choose so, you could use your status to order me to make her a knight right now."

"No," Weiss immediately said causing Ironwood to raise an eyebrow, "Ruby would rather earn the title by her own merits instead of it just given to her."

"Very well then, tomorrow we will have a small test for your friend," he said looking back down at the map and moved several wooden pieces with the White Fang symbol to a mountain range near the fortress before briefly shaking his head and moving the pieces to a different mountain range. "It will be a simple test, really. A spar against one knight to test her skill. In the meantime, it would be in everyone's best interests in you and her remain on the fifth level of the fort."

* * *

Shortly after Weiss closed the door to the war room and entered the main hall, she heard the sounds of movement. "Sister," a voice greeted her causing her to turn around and come face to face with Whitley.

"Whitley," Weiss said as she took a couple steps towards him. "Hey, I'm sorry I didn't return here sooner. I know I was presumed dead and-"

"Oh, it's quite alright, sister," he said raising his hand in front of himself in order to stop her. "When I heard the report that your body had not been recovered, I assumed you were alive, so I didn't worry. I know Winter was concerned for a while before Ironwood mentioned he had reports mentioning the possibility of you being alive." He was silent for a moment, looking off to the side before continuing. "That night at the castle, did you happen to know if all the servants were killed?"

"I… I do not know," she said causing him to scowl for a moment. "The White Fang were not able to occupy the castle for too long. The palace guards did come after the attack began driving the White Fang back, but I did hear many of the human servants were killed. I did not stay long enough to hear who had survived."

"Well then… thank you anyway," he said then turned around. "I shall bother you no more. It is late, and you are probably tired from your journey here."

"Good night, Whitley," she said as he walked away. Shortly after he exited the main hall, Weiss turned around and began walking towards the guest quarters. "Hopefully nobody searches for me in the morning."

* * *

"Ok," Jaune said getting the group's attention as they put on their armor, "as far as we know, there is going to possibly be a White Fang attack on Fort Mantle, so we can't really leave. So, what is everyone going to do?"

"Ren and I are going to play with the ponies," Nora said as she finished slipping on the last bit of her armor before grabbing Ren's arm.

"I highly doubt that there are ponies here in the fortress," Ren said causing Nora to slightly pout. "Though, while we are on the first level, we will retrieve the horses and bring them back. It shouldn't take too long."

"Ok, well that saves the rest of us from making the trip, thank you," Yang said as she held her chainmail suit in front of herself before her hand brushed the hole causing the blacksmith to scoff. "I should probably visit the forges and repair this."

"I thought your chainmail wasn't supposed to break?" Blake asked her walking over.

"While my chainmail is enchanted, it is still regular chainmail, so stabbing attacks will still pierce it," Yang explained to the faunus.

"Ok, well if you're going to the forges, I might as well go along and have my kusarigama and shortsword sharpened," she said as she secured the weapons to her belt.

"I'll probably stay here and watch some of the knights train," Pyrrha said as she leaned against a nearby wall. "Maybe I can offer them some advice, but knights do get a thick skull if they achieve a certain ranking." She then turned to Weiss, Ruby, and Jaune. "What are you three doing?"

"The people of the fortress know I am the princess, so I'll have to stay on the fifth level with my family," Weiss said forming a slight scowl.

"Well," Ruby said answering Pyrrha looking off to the side. "I'll probably be staying on the fifth level. Apparently, Commander Ironwood wants me to spar with some knights. So I have to stay here."

"Huh," Jaune remarked as he picked up his guitar. "I was going to finally begin working on a song, so I was going to spend my day up here. I guess I'll watch the fight."

"Wait, wait, wait," Yang interjected holding her hand in front of herself towards Jaune. "What do you mean by, 'finally begin working on a song'? Wasn't that the whole reason you joined our group, to write a song?"

"Well, with everything that's been happening, I haven't really had a chance to write one," he explained as Nora couldn't wait anymore and dragged Ren out of the guest quarters. "Also, I don't know if you know this, but the last group of knights I travelled with was for almost two years, and I wasn't even able to write a single song about them, though they weren't good inspiration. I'm not the greatest at writing songs, or singing them to be honest." He chuckled. "Ironically, I'm really good at singing sea shanties."

"Then why didn't you sing any on the- oh," Yang said remembering Jaune's sea sickness.

"Well then, we should probably get going," Blake said grabbing the back of Yang's shirt before dragging her out of the door.

"Good luck with your fight," Yang said giving Ruby a quick wave before the door closed behind her.

"So, I guess we'll see you around," Ruby said to Jaune and Pyrrha as she and Weiss exited the room.

* * *

After wandering for half an hour, getting lost, then asking directions, Yang and Blake found the forges located on the third level. When the two entered the building, they came to the sight of a large workshop hall with individual forges lining the walls going deep into the hall that seemed connected to a larger cave in the back. At each of the forges was a tall muscular blacksmith that towered over even Yang. At the rate that rate the blacksmiths hit their metals, it sounded like music to any who entered.

"I think I'm going to like this place," Yang remarked as she looked around the place while one of the blacksmiths came by and looked the two over.

"Interesting," the tall man said looking down on the two, "clearly you're not here for armor or weapons. So, why have you come?"

"Uhh, well, I just came by to repair my chainmail," Yang said revealing the hole to him.

"Chainmail?" he asked looking closer at the material she was wearing. "Ah, magical chainmail, you're from Vale, aren't you? I've only heard of one blacksmith who uses that kind of material, Taiyang Xiao Long."

"Uhh, yeah, he's my father," she said causing the blacksmith to choke on air from surprise. "Actually, I'm his apprentice, and I can repair this myself if you give me access to a decent enough forge."

"I think I can help you then," he told her as he turned around gesturing for them to follow. "While the forges of Fort Mantle are impressive, they cannot compare to the ones at the blacksmith compound at the capital. They have a building almost the side of the castle that spans underground and into a cleared dungeon under the city."

"Have you ever been there?" Blake asked him as she noticed they neared the cave in the back.

"Once, after my apprenticeship was over. I was searching for a job smithing for the capital, but I was told that I would have better luck working here, so I bought passage on the next ship to South Atlas and I've been here for ten years," he explained as they came to an empty forge near a bookshelf with old books on them. "Here's your forge, you can use it as you please, just make sure to extinguish the fire when you're done. Also, we use this bookshelf for smithing books we plan on getting rid of in the near future, so feel free to take any that pique your interest."

"So, what's back there?" Yang asked as she looked at the short wall next to her forge. For some reason she felt a chill run down her spine as she looked in that direction.

"Well, ores, weapons, some armor, and a project that the Arcanist is having us work on," he told them as he took a couple steps back. "Despite you being a friend of the princess, I can't tell you what that project is. I have to get back to work, so I'll leave you to your work." He then turned around and made his way to the front of the forges and back to work.

"So, you finally have a fully operational forge now," Blake said as she watched Yang ignite a small fireball in her hand before throwing it at the oven lighting the fires. "Do you need the grindstone for repairing your chainmail?"

"Well, no, but give me a minute," Yang said focusing her magic into her hands to heat up the metal. "When this is done I can sharpen those properly."

"Very well then," she said as she walked over to the bookshelf and looked at some of the old books.

* * *

"Ok, Ms. Rose, this task should be rather simple. You will be facing against Gordon Dumas," Ironwood said as he walked with Weiss and Ruby to the sparring grounds. "He is a skilled knight and has earned the job of a guard of the fifth level. Back in Atlas, he would be a palace guard. Now, from what I understand, you wish to become a knight."

"That would be correct," Ruby answered him.

"I will not try to come up with an excuse for as to why I am considering you for a position at the palace," he said confusing her for a second before he continued, "You already know of the value your eyes have and of how much danger you are in. While we could have you placed under the protection of the Atlesian army, it has come to my understanding that you are an exceptional fighter. So, you have the opportunity to prove your worth here and now, which will give me more of a base when bringing this up with Jacques. Do you understand?"

"You want me to spar with this knight to prove that I am just as skilled as a palace guard in order to become one, got it," she said as the three made it to a large fenced in circle.

On the other side of the circle was a tall man with slicked back blonde hair wearing almost minimal armor covering his forearms, legs, and chest. In his right hand, he was holding a long metal spear with a yellow spearhead that sparked when air passed over it.

"Is he a mage?" Weiss asked Ironwood as she watched Ruby cautiously walk into the circle drawing her scythe.

"Actually no, he has an enchanted spear," he said as he watched Gordon enter the circle. "A lot of my soldiers have enchanted weapons, like Sorenson, he has a flaming sword." He then held his hand up in the air. "You may begin."

As soon as Ironwood's hand went down, Gordon aimed his spear at Ruby and lunged forward at speeds rivaling hers barely giving her time to dodge. Ruby quickly sidestepped allowing the spear to pass right by her, but he quickly planted his feet on the ground and used the back end of his spear shaft to hit Ruby in the chest throwing her back.

Ruby landed on her back before she followed through with her roll allowing her to land on her feet. Gordon then lunged forward again, but this time Ruby spun her scythe to redirect his spear upwards. She thought he would be staggered, but the spearman simply pulled back on his weapon embedding the shaft in the ground. He then jumped forward using his spear as a support in order to kick her in the chest with both feet throwing her back.

As she flew through the air, Ruby stabbed Crescent Rose into the ground stopping herself planting her feet on the curved shaft keeping one hand on the weapon. With her free hand, she reached down to her boot and drew her dagger just in time to parry Gordon's next strike.

Before he could hit her with the back end of the shaft, Ruby let her feet slide off the back of the shaft before pulling herself down kicking his feet from under him causing the man to fall. She let go of Crescent Rose before running around the man back towards her weapon.

Before Ruby could get back to her weapon, Gordon slashed at her with his spear scraping against her chestplate sending a jolt through her body causing her to fall to her knees and curl over.

He was about to lunge at her again, but she reached up with her right hand causing the spear to scrape against her bracers electrocuting her even more. Gritting through the pain, she reached up and grabbed the spear before slashing at his arms with her dagger causing him to let go of his weapon with one hand.

Ruby then launched herself off the ground running at Crescent Rose. As she reached her scythe, she pulled it from the ground and hooked Gordon's spear before pulling it back disarming him. She then pushed upwards with the back end of her scythe catching him under the jaw with the scythe shaft throwing him back.

"That's enough, Dumas, you may go," Ironwood said as Gordon simply stood up, retrieved his weapon, and bowed before leaving.

"So, how did I do?" Ruby asked between breaths.

"Well, I will admit that was somewhat impressive," he said as he and Weiss walked towards her. "You could have won three moves earlier if you had used your dagger a bit more precisely. You have much to learn, but I can say you would almost be on par with a palace guard given the right instruction. Rest for now, I will try to appeal to the king for you to become a palace guard."

"Thank you," Ruby said to him as he turned to leave the training circle.

* * *

"That was impressive," Jaune remarked as he watched Ruby's fight with Gordon Dumas end as he began strumming his guitar. He looked further ahead and watched as Pyrrha finished her spar with three knights and began giving them advice.

As he continued to strum his guitar, Jaune didn't notice as Commander Ironwood walked by where the bard was sitting. The older man then stopped before turning around and walking in front of him.

"You are Jaune Arc, correct? A friend of the princess?" Ironwood asked causing Jaune to jump slightly when he heard the man's voice.

"Uhh, well, uhh, yeah," Jaune said putting down his guitar next to him.

"If my memory serves me right, your family was once of noble status in Mistral after your ancestor fought in the Great War using those weapons right there," he said gesturing towards the sword and shield lying on the ground next to the bard.

"Yeah, well, apparently my family wasn't that great at managing their status, so within twenty years they lost that status," Jaune said to him looking towards his weapons. "These are the family heirlooms, but my family didn't like the idea of me fighting."

"Fighting may not always be one's first option, but it can be necessary. If I remember, the White Dragon of War was a simple merchant before taking up arms and changing the tides of battles," he said as he began taking a couple steps away from Jaune. "It seems rather interesting that an Arc appears at the location that a battle may soon take place."

"Well, don't expect too much. I'm not much of a fighter."

"Only time will tell if history repeats itself," Ironwood said as he began walking towards the small castle on the fifth level.

* * *

 **So, it kinda seems like I suddenly stopped, and that's because I kinda did. I did cover most of what I wanted to for this chapter. Weiss informs her dad of the plot, Weiss talks to Ironwood about Ruby becoming a knight, Yang and Blake go to the forges, Ren and Nora get the horses, Pyrrha trains, Weiss and Ruby are at the training yard, and we get to know a little about Jaune's family.**

 **So, I kind of think that in canon, Jaune's from Vale, but for this AU I'm going to have him be from Mistral just for the theme of JNPR all being from Mistral since three of the four have been confirmed from there. So anyway, Jaune's ancestor was known as the White Dragon of War, abd because of his deeds during the great war, his family was risen to noble status, but after 20 years they lost that status. I'm thinking of expanding on that in the future, but that'll be after this story arc.**

 **Also, I know that a couple chapters ago I mentioned how long this story arc is going to be, but that number is no longer valid since I had originally planned on the battle commencing already.**

 **So, I'm going to rest my thumbs now and get some sleep.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	57. Second Half of a Day

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. This chapter actually is a tad bit short this time for two reasons, I decided to cut out the excess information and scenes that weren't necessary, and since I still don't have internet at my house, I had to write this chapter using my phone. Writing only using a phone is murder on the thumbs, I think I explained that last chapter.**

 **Let's go straight to the reviews.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: My older brother actually helped with Ruby's fight giving me the idea for Dumas saying I should make a ridiculously fast character to fight another fast character. Yang _might_ stay away from the "project" but that wouldn't make for an interesting plot point.**

 **loganhunter2: Now the question is if he is going to utilize the greatness thrown on him.**

 **Huntress77 (Awee): With school out I have had a lot of free time too, but unfortunately my free tine was consumed with moving. Then without internet at my new house, I can't really use my laptop to write. Personally I like This Life is Mine more than bmblb, but that's just my personal preference.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"And that does it," Yang said as she removed Blake's shortsword from the grindstone and inspected the blade. "This is a good blade, strong and durable, but light."

"Thanks, I've had it for a while, and it has served me well," Blake responded as she looked up from the smithing book she was reading. "You know, these books are actually pretty good. If we're allowed to take these, we should probably take a couple. You should read this one, it has several smithing techniques from Mistral I'm sure you'd like to know."

"I… think I'll pass. They wouldn't do me any good anyway," Yang said looking down in embarrassment. "I can't read."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought- it's just, I've seen you read before," Blake apologized as she set down her book. "Like the dungeon when you read the wall."

"That wasn't reading, well it was, it's... I don't know," Yang told her as she rubbed her temples. "That was the language of demons. I don't know why, but I can read it. Regular words I can't read, except for maybe a few. I've been meaning to learn, and Ruby even said she would help me, but we never really had the time with my apprenticeship and her helping out Uncle Qrow."

"Well, I could teach you to read," Blake suggested causing Yang to look up. "I mean, I don't really have a home to go back to, and I've enjoyed travelling with all of you. After this is over, if we keep travelling, I could teach you."

"I don't think we're all going to travel together after this is over," Yang said gripping her fists slightly. "Pyrrha is probably going back to Mistral since her mission is over, Weiss is going to back to North Atlas with her family, and Ruby is going to Atlas with Weiss to… be a knight. Jaune will probably keep traveling with us, and Nora and Ren seem to stay around him. That, and I think that after this is over I'm probably just going to go back home back to my apprenticeship. I think dad would appreciate one of his daughters coming home." She paused, thinking for a minute. "You could come with me back to Patch when this is over. You could teach me to read, and you could stay with me and my dad."

"Wait, you're just offering me a place to live?" Blake asked, confused.

"Yes," Yang told her. "My dad has two houses, technically three if you count Qrow's farm, so I'm sure my dad won't mind having you staying with us."

"But why would you just offer me a home?"

"Well, we're friends, and I think everyone should have a home to go back to," Yang said causing Blake's lip to quiver for a moment before she bit the inside of her lip and smile.

"Thank you, Yang," Blake said then her left cat ear twitched towards the wall to the cave causing her to snap back to attention just before there was a loud scream and a thunderclap.

"What the hell was that?" Yang asked as she looked at the wall before looking to the other blacksmiths who continued to hammer their metal like nothing had happened. "Did they not hear that?"

"Maybe they are used to the thunderclap, but I definitely heard a scream," Blake told her as she scaled the wall in order to look over it. "They might've not heard it."

"Let's check it out, someone might be hurt." Yang then jumped on the anvil before jumping off it and gripping the ledge of the top of the wall.

Shortly after the two climbed over the wall, they landed next to several barrels of ore. Looking ahead, they saw the large portion of the cave and saw several hundred large figures that seemed to be similar to the stone golem Yang fought with Weiss except that they were made of iron. The sight of them immediately caused Yang to feel uneasy. Near the front of the iron golems the two saw four young men and one large older balding man with white hair and a large white beard. At the golem's feet, there seemed to be a steaming pile of ashes. The iron golem they were standing in front of started to glow blue through each joint on its body which caused the four men to clap.

"What is going on here?" Blake asked under her breath which caused the iron golem to look directly at her. Its blue color immediately turned red as its jaw opened up to let out a roar before knocking two of the men aside and running at Blake. The old man then immediately began chanting while moving his hands.

"Blake, get back!" Yang shouted as she pushed the faunus out of the way of the iron golem's fist which was preparing to punch. She then focused her magic over her right hand creating a barrier over her bare hand before thrusting her fist forward catching the golem's fist. The golem's fist was stopped for a second before the barrier broke causing Yang's hand to break and then the golem pushed forward hitting her and throwing her into the wall.

"Yang!" Blake shouted as the golem turned to her again and roared before running at her again.

"Blake, run! I'll get my gauntlets!" she shouted back as she stood up and began climbing nearby barrels to get over the wall. As soon as Yang climbed up the second barrel, the golem saw her and grabbed a barrel filled with steel ingots before throwing it at her. The barrel threw Yang into the wall before breaking the wood and destroying part of the wall throwing Yang next to her gauntlets.

She reached over with her right hand and gripped one of her gauntlets causing Yang to cringe from her broken hand. Using her non-broken hand, she slipped on her left gauntlet before standing back up and jumping through the hole in the wall.

Blake had drawn her shortsword as she jumped over the golem's fist. Then she jumped to avoid another punch landing on the golem's arm. She lunged forward slashing at the golem's face which only caused sparks to fly before the golem quickly reached up catching her left leg. It then held her upside down raising her in front of its face which caused her to notice a couple symbols on its forehead. As soon as Blake's face was at its level, the golem let out a roar while squeezing her leg.

"Let her go!" Yang shouted jumping forward hitting the golem in the back with an explosive punch.

It then turned slightly before swatting Yang into a deactive golem with it's free arm. Blake began to let out a pained yell as the golem broke her leg. The golem then raised her further into the air before beginning to throw her into the ground.

"Stop!" an echoing voice commanded causing the iron golem to immediately stop moving having Blake's head inches from the floor as its color returned to blue. Yang and Blake turned and saw the older man walking over with blue sigils of light hovering in front of his hands. "Drop her!" It let go of Blake causing her to land on the ground with a thud. "Return to your post and deactivate!"

As the golem began walking towards its original spot, two of the young men ran over to Blake while the other two ran to Yang. "We're so sorry," one of the men said to the two as the ones helping Yang brought her to her feet and began walking her to Blake. "Our experiment is very delicate, so someone else entering the area in the first few moments of activation can have a negative reaction. After that, they obey our commands without extreme violent outbursts."

"What the hell is going on here?" Yang asked the men as the older man opened his coat and began digging around inside it. "We heard someone scream."

"That… would have been Greg, he gets scared easily," the man said as the old man pulled a wooden stick from his coat before pressing the tip against Blake's broken leg. "This is why we kept this project a secret, so we don't have a negative reaction from the golems."

"Wouldn't it be easier to just say, 'Hey, we have killer golems that can get violent if people come in. Do not enter.'?" Yang asked as the old man pressed his wooden stick against Yang's broken hand. He then quickly chanted a spell under his breath which caused both girls to cringe as their bones set themselves and healed. "Jeez, a bit of a warning next time."

"You're welcome," the old man said before turning around and walking towards the deactivated iron golem.

"What's his problem?"

"He's the Arcanist, he's just a bit preoccupied with his projects," one of the men said as they helped Blake to her feet. "We have some more work to do, so it would be a good idea for you to leave."

"Don't worry, I don't think we intend to stay for another fight," Blake said as she and Yang then walked through the door in the wall as the men went back to work.

"Well, that sucked," Yang said as she walked over to the forge and grabbed her chainmail and other gauntlet while Blake grabbed her kusarigama and several of the books before the two made their way out of the forges.

* * *

"There's a good horse," Ruby said as she stroked Chestnut's neck. She then turned to Ren and Nora. "They weren't any trouble, were they? I helped raise Chestnut, Snowflake, and Bumblebee, and I know first hand how much trouble they can be."

"They weren't any trouble at all," Ren said before Nora laughed a little. "There may have been a situation at the gates."

"One of the knights helping us get the horses from the stable touched Bumblebee's mane," Nora explained causing Ruby to sigh and roll her eyes. "He walked away with a dented chestplate."

"Of course it would be Yang's horse, and of course it would be for touching its mane," Weiss said pinching the bridge of her nose. "The first time I met her, Yang nearly beat a man's face in for touching her hair."

"That's not surprising considering the short temper I've seen from her during the journey," Jaune said as he took the saddle off his horse's back before placing it on the table in the stable.

"Well, it works with her magic, right?" Ren asked, "Isn't her strength magic augmented by her emotions, so the shorter the temper, the stronger she gets."

"But losing control of emotions can lead to a possible magic surge, and considering Yang's magic, that would be disastrous," Weiss said as she closed the stable housing Snowflake.

"Yet you were the first one of us to have a magic surge," Yang said as she and Blake entered the fifth level stables, Blake having a slight limp and Yang cradling her right hand. "And I thought I was supposed to be the one not in control of their emotions?"

"Circumstances are different, Xiao Long," she said walking over to the two. "You both got into a fight, didn't you?"

"Someone called the Arcanist is making iron golems at the forges," Yang explained causing everyone to look at her. "We interrupted at the wrong time and the golem went nuts going us breaking my hand and Blake's leg."

"We got healed, but the Arcanist's healing magic isn't the same as yours, it just fixes the bones, not numbing the pain to help heal properly," Blake said placing the small stack of books she took from the forges on a nearby table.

"Why would the Atlesian military want to make golems?" Weiss asked as she grabbed Yang's hand before healing it to the point of numbing the pain then moving on to Blake.

"It wouldn't be to better counteract the grimm," Jaune said then paused for a second. "Actually, it could be if they wanted to set some up in cities outside of the capitals that have little protection of their own. Or maybe they have been planning in case of a White Fang assault for a while."

"It is probably the latter," Pyrrha said walking forward to face Yang and Blake, "but you said that the Arcanist was _making_ the golems. That should be impossible. In Mistral, many top researchers have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to create life, so natural golems are an oddity."

"Well, we watched one come to life, so it's probably not impossible," Blake told her as he left cat ear twitched.

From the doors to the stables, a knight entered looking towards the group. "All of you are expected to make a presence in the main hall immediately," he said then bowed to Weiss before leaving.

"What's happening in the main hall?" Ruby asked looking to Weiss who looked at her with a shrug. "I guess we'll find out."

* * *

"-and in conclusion, the Kingdom of Atlas thanks you for your service in the return of Ms. Weiss Schnee, Second Princess of Atlas," the king's stewart said to the group of seven standing in the middle of the hall, each looking confused sending a couple of glances towards Weiss who seemed embarrassed at the ceremony.

"Now, with that out of the way, we can get to businesses," Jacques said leaning forward in his chair resting his hands under his chin to look at them. "We have just learned information that White Fang forces have been spotted moving from their mountain base, so we believe there is going to be an attack within the next few days. Due to your help in returning my daughter, we are willing to offer your party a military escort to the town of Belaray so that you would not be caught in the middle of the battle. Do you accept?"

"Well," Ruby said turning to the others, "What do you guys think?"

"Leaving would be nice, and we wouldn't possibly die," Jaune said earning a couple glares from the others. "Hey, I just threw out the idea. A battle of Fort Mantle, sounds like a great song, so I can't miss it."

"I'm staying," Pyrrha said getting their attention. "I am a knight, and it would be wrong of me to abandon a chance to protect the people of Fort Mantle."

"If it means stopping Adam, I'm staying," Blake said, her ears flattening slightly.

"We don't really have any reason to be here," Nora said standing next to Ren, "but we also don't have any reason to leave."

"If anything, our skills are most useful here helping out," Ren added causing Nora to nod. "We're staying."

"I was under the impression that we were already staying to help, so I wasn't planning on leaving early," Yang said then turned to Ruby. "You also have your own reasons for staying."

"Then it's decided," Ruby said as she turned to face the king. "We're staying, we may not be the best help, but we're willing to do what we can."

"Fine then," Jacques said then leaned back in his chair before looking off the the side of the hall towards a certain red eyed reaper. "And you, what are your intentions?"

"Me?" Qrow asked pointing at himself. "Well, considering my nieces are staying, and I don't have anything else to do, I might as well participate in a battle. It's been a long time since my last siege, and I've always wondered what it was like on the other side of the battle."

"Very well," he said then looked to address everyone in the room. "All of you, return to your posts. The White Fang will make their move soon, and when they do, we need to be prepared."

As soon as Jacques finished speaking to everyone, each knight left the main hall except for those posted as guards.

"Your Highness, we still don't know when the Whit-" the steward began before the doors to the main hall were thrown open and a knight ran in.

"Your Highness, your Highness, urgent news!" The knight nearly yelled as he ran into the hall. "We had lost contact with the guards stationed on the third sector of the wall. When we investigated, we discovered that they had been knocked unconscious."

"How long have they been unconscious?" Ironwood asked as he forward to confront the knight.

"By now, two hours," the knight responded before Blake's ear twitched causing her to look around the room.

"Long enough to scale the walls," a voice said from above everyone causing nearly everyone to grab at their weapons. Before anyone could draw them, twenty figures dropped from the ceiling. As soon as they straightened out, it was clear that they were wearing White Fang masks.

"Kill them!" Jacques commanded as each member of the White Fang reached for their masks.

"We surrender!" the White Fang members shouted as they removed their masks raising their hands above their heads.

"Stand down!" Ironwood commanded causing many of the knights to stop moving their weapons to attack, except for one knight who was already in mid swing, so Ironwood had to quickly reach over with his right arm and catch the knight's sword. After the knight sheathed his sword, Ironwood turned to the White Fang members. "What do you mean? Is the White Fang really surrendering before fighting?"

"No, the White Fang is not going to surrender," the faunus said looking to him, "but we are."

* * *

 **Alright, that was a bit much ground to cover in a little amount of time. I actually wanted to insert a little scene between Blake and Yang deciding on their future and the golem fight, but I decided it was a little unnecessary. So yeah, iron golems kick ass, now do they remind anyone else of the paladins? They kind of remind me of them, so I figured I'd put them in. Bonus points to those who can figure out the major inspiration for the golems and their history that I'm using. Also, bonus points to those who can figure out which character from the show the Arcanist is based off of.**

 **Anyway, the ending, we have White Fang deserters. So we get to see what happens to them in the next chapter.**

 **My thumbs are killing me, so I'm going to be done for now. I'm sure I'll have to go back and change some stuff, but I can do that in the morning.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	58. Three Days

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the latest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. So, I know this is late, but typing out entire chapters on a phone sucks. Also, it does cause my thumbs a lot of pain. So I'm just putting this little heads up that I probably won't be able to keep with the schedule of once a week chapters since the battle is going to involve larger chapters than usual. Hopefully I get internet at my new house soon otherwise I'm going to have to keep using my phone for everything internet.**

 **So, reviews:**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Jacques's reaction won't be as bad as I had originally intended. I actually shortened up what he was going to do since... well, thumbs. The Arcanist is actually based off a character from the show, and since he's in this universe, another fan favorite that I have been hinting at since near the beginning will appear as well.**

 **KibaPT: I think I've established that for a while now. Also, fun trivia, Chestnut is based off a real horse I raised years ago.**

 **Awee: It doesn't bother me at all which account you use, I just thought of teasing you a little. I love the RWBY soundtracks, but I don't like listening to volume 3's since it reminds me of the events that happened in that season. I did like the jazzed up I Burn though.**

 **Korra the 2nd: I think I've used that excuse on many occasions. Mostly I just use it to justify what I'm doing in the story.**

 **Darkness3rick: You're fine. I go silent for periods of time, which reminds me, I need to respond to some PM's that I've been procrastinating. Anyway, cliffhangers are one of my signatures, along with suspense, over the top battles, and the occasional Deus ex Machina (I haven't used that one in a while, and hopefully I don't use it in the future). You are a stronger person than I. I still haven't beaten Dark Souls 2, but I do have access to Dark Souls 3. Depending on your platform, we could play together sometime, after I get internet of course.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"You're surrendering?" Ironwood asked the group of faunus who were now kneeling, hands tied, in the middle of the room in a group facing Jacques and Ironwood. "Why would you desert the White Fang and come here? The Atlesian Army is not the best place for you to come to considering your past."

"Believe me, we originally did not want to come here," the brown haired wolf faunus, who appeared to be the leader of the group, said looking to his comrades for affirmation, "but it was not the right thing to do."

"Why is that?" Jacques asked resting his chin under his hand as he leaned to one side of his throne.

"The White Fang has changed," he said causing Yang to reach back and place a hand on Blake's back as she began to look worried. "Since before the… assassination of the queen, the White Fang has been changing. Then afterwards, Adam Taurus took control of the group due to him being the one who killed her. Originally we were only focused on freeing slaves that were taken to hellish farms, but the White Fang became too murder oriented."

"What caused this change?" Ironwood asked him as he began walking to the faunus.

"A woman," he said as some of the White Fang members began to shudder slightly. "A human woman appeared out of nowhere with some subordinates to meet with the high ranking members privately. It was after that, the plot to assassinate the queen had been started. She left after that, but before we moved from our mountain fortress, she returned."

"Who was this woman?" Ironwood asked him causing the wolf faunus to look up at him with his yellow eyes clearly showing fear.

"I-I don't know," he told him. "She was a witch of some sort. There had been a minor scuffle which only resulted in some of us being burned alive."

"Fall," one of the other members said causing Ironwood to immediately look at her. At the mention of her name, Ruby immediately reached over to hold Weiss's hand.

"What did you say?" Ironwood asked rushing over to the girl who only appeared to be around fourteen.

"Fall, her name," she said cowering slightly from the towering figure of the commander. "I was there the day she came to the camp. When she went to speak with the leaders of the White Fang, I snuck around the tent to hear them talk. She said her name was Cinder Fall."

"Damn it, she's here," Ironwood cursed under his breath as he turned away from the faunus and began walking towards the throne.

"What's wrong, who is this Cinder Fall?" Jacques asked Ironwood causing him to look up at him.

"Cinder Fall is a powerful Witch of the Wilds, and if she is here, then that means major trouble," Ironwood said then turned around to face the leader of the White Fang deserters. "How long? How long until the White Fang attacks?"

"Three days," he said looking at him. "In the morning on the third day, the White Fang will attack. They plan on taking the field in a direct assault. Once they have established a foothold, they plan on storming the gates and scaling the walls taking over level after level until the royal family is dead."

"We have three days, ok, that's long enough to come up with a plan," Ironwood said as he began walking towards the war room before Jacques coughed getting his attention.

"What should we do with these White Fang deserters, Commander Ironwood?" Jacques asked him causing the man to stop and face him.

"They are surrendering to us and are showing no signs of hostility," he said then paused before turning to a group of knights standing near the group of faunus with their weapons ready. "You there, search these faunus for weapons and escort them to the holding cells on the fourth level. Since they have surrendered to us peacefully and given us information, if that information holds true, they will be judged fairly."

"Reasonable enough," Jacques said then the knights began getting the faunus to their feet to escort them out of the building.

Before the deserters left the building, Weiss let go of Ruby's hand and took several steps forward. "Wait," she said causing everyone in the room to stop moving and the deserters turned to face Weiss. "After the assassination of my mother, Adam Taurus travelled to a dungeon in Vale to get some sort of artifact from a demon. What was that artifact?"

"It was a sword," a fox faunus answered from the middle of the group, his voice shaking. "His sword is constantly dripping with blood. It… controls the creatures of grimm."

"Shit," Ironwood cursed then looked to three knights in the back of the room. "You three, bring me the spymaster and strategist." He then turned to point at Qrow. "You, you're coming with me."

"I must protest," Winter said stepping in front of Qrow, "this man has shown nothing but disrespect since he appeared. He should not be there for battle planning."

"Ms. Schnee," Ironwood interrupted her before she could continue, "Qrow Branwen is a trusted ally, and at this point we need all the help we can get. Do you not trust my judgment?"

Winter paused as she formed a scowl before stepping aside to let Qrow pass. "No sir," she said glaring at the reaper. "I hope you know what you are doing."

"Take it easy, Snow Queen," Qrow told her with a smirk causing her to scoff as he walked by her.

"It is late," Ironwood said to Weiss's group getting their attention as Qrow walked through them ruffling his nieces' hair as he walked past. "I suggest you rest, because tomorrow we will need to begin preparations for battle."

* * *

"Ok, I think I managed to get away for another night," Weiss said as she entered the common area of the guest quarters. In the back was four rooms with two beds each that members of the group had been using to store their weapons and armor they had not been using. "I assume that my father will order additional guards to me soon, so hopefully I can still come here."

"Why would you not want to stay in the royal quarters?" Pyrrha asked Weiss as the princess walked towards everyone and sat down at one of the tables next to Ruby. "I'm sure it is an improvement to these chambers. They're not much better than the inns we rested at."

"Well, believe it or not, I'm more comfortable here," Weiss said reaching under the table to hold Ruby's hand. "Besides, I've gotten used to inns. Also, the royal quarters are quiet, uncomfortably quiet."

"So, you've just gotten used to Yang's snoring," Jaune interjected.

"Hey, I do not snore," Yang said playfully punching the bard which caused him to wince from the force behind it.

"Well, to be fair, you aren't as bad as Nora," Ren causing his childhood friend to blush slightly. "So, we should probably rest. I'm sure the commander has something special planned for us."

"Yes, we probably should," Blake said as she placed down the quill she had been using to write down the symbols she saw on the golem's head. "This is bothering me. I swear I've seen these kinds of symbols before we fought the golem."

"Huh?" Yang asked as she moved over to look over Blake's shoulder. "This is weird. It seems familiar. They kind of look like the demonic symbols." She then took the paper to look it over. "Blake, weren't you upside down when you saw these?"

"Right," she responded as everyone looked over to the two as Yang flipped the paper over.

"That must be wrong," Yang said after she read the paper. "Maybe this isn't demonic."

"What does it say?" Ruby asked her sister.

"Gregory Radford," she said reading off the paper. "It doesn't make sense. Why would a person's name be written in demonic on a golem's head?"

"You don't think something happened to this Gregory Redford, right?" Jaune asked looking to the brawler who placed the paper down on the table.

"I don't know, we just heard a scream before checking out what happened," Blake said to him as she remembered what happened. "I will admit it is suspicious."

"It's a bit unnerving," Weiss said as Ruby's grip of Weiss's hand tightened. "Alright, it's very unnerving."

"Maybe a couple of us should go investigate," Pyrrha suggested as she leaned against the wall to her's and Blake's room. "I'm sure we could figure out some sort of plan for this. If these golems are located in the forges, we should find an excuse to go there."

"Alright then, but we can figure that out in the morning," Ren said as he and Nora stood up to go to their room.

* * *

In the morning of the first day, the group could see a definite change in mentality on the fort. After Ironwood's orders went out into the fortress, there could be soldiers preparing for battle all down the fortress. Several battalions even moved out placing spiked barricades throughout the field in front of Fort Mantle.

At the top level of Fort Fantle, the group could see knights near the wall observing for anything out of the ordinary. In the courtyard, near the knight's quarters, they could see several knights sparring against each other. Qrow could be seen giving out advice to these knights before he noticed Ruby's group and began walking towards them.

"Morning," Qrow greeted them as he walked over and ruffled Ruby's hair. "How you kids doing?"

"Uncle Qrow, what did you guys talk about last night at the war table?" Yang asked him causing the older man to look confused.

"Really, you start with that?" he asked before sighing. "I don't exactly know what to tell you. Jimmy and the other two kind of just talked about some boring stuff with battle terms thrown in. As far as I can tell, they're planning on using catapults from the fort's walls in an initial attack, then overwhelm them with larger numbers on the field. Apparently the strategist thinks the plan will work, he even thinks that grimm won't be a nuisance. According to him, beowolves and ursai are no match for Atlesian Knights."

"So, he just thinks that we will win no matter what?" Blake asked him getting his attention. "Does he not realize that the White Fang is not easy to defeat. If anything, we need to stop Adam. If he can control the grimm with an artifact, then we just need to take it from him."

"I actually had a similar idea," he responded. "All we would need is a group of knights to sneak behind enemy lines and steal the artifact, but that plan wouldn't really work due to knight's not having certain skills needed."

"Well, that kind of sucks," she said causing him to nod in agreement. "What about Cinder? What is the plan for handling her."

"We, uhh, we don't have a plan for dealing with her," he said scratching the back of his head. "They're still talking strategy in there from last night. I barely managed to escape for a quick nap."

"Qrow!" a voice shouted from the castle door. Everyone turned to see Commander Ironwood standing at the door looking directly at the reaper. "Get back in here!"

"And now I have to take my leave, see ya, kid," Qrow said playfully punching Yang's shoulder before turning back and heading to Ironwood.

"Well, that was kind of informative," Pyrrha mentioned as she crossed her arms in front of herself. "I have a feeling he left just to inform us."

"That's certainly a possibility," Weiss said as she took a couple steps ahead before turning to the others. "So, we need to make our way to the forges to investigate the golems."

"I also have something that I think we should do," Blake said to her getting the others' attention. "I should probably go see the White Fang deserters. They might have been withholding information that they wouldn't tell a human."

"Ok, so two groups," Jaune said clapping his hands in front of himself. "Who should go to the forges, and who should go to the holding cells?"

"Weiss and I should go to the forges for sure," Yang said standing next to Weiss.

Pyrrha walked over and stood next to Blake. "The guards of the holding cells might be suspicious of Blake going there, so they might respect my ranking," she said looking to Blake and giving her a nod.

"It might be a good idea if Nora and I go to the holding cells," Ren said as he and Nora walked next to Blake. "With a lot of members of White Fang being former slaves, they might be more comfortable around us."

"So, I guess Ruby and I are going to the forges," Jaune said as he and Ruby walked next to Weiss and Yang. "We'll meet up here in mid-afternoon, I think that would be a reasonable time to regroup."

"Right," Blake said as she and her group began heading to the holding cells.

"So, we would probably need an excuse for going to the forges," Ruby said to the three of them as they began walking to the entrance to the fourth level. "Ideas?"

"Well," Jaune began as he put his hand under his chin to think, "Yang is a blacksmith, so it would make sense for her to go there. You're her sister, so they would assume that you're also another blacksmith. Weiss is the princess, so they would take orders from her either way."

"So, what you're saying is, you're getting a new set of armor," Yang said with a cheeky grin as she hooked Jaune's arm to pull him ahead.

"What? No, I never said that," he said in mild panic as the two began increasing speed due to the decline.

"It could work," Weiss said thinking about it as she and Ruby continued to casually walk down the street. "I could demand to be shown what is happening in the back of the forge. Then, while you and the others are distracting the other blacksmiths, I can investigate the golems."

"It sounds good, but I hope you have a good memory, because I don't think they'll allow even you to write notes," Ruby said causing Weiss to scoff slightly which then caused her to laugh at her girlfriend's expense.

"Of course I have a great memory."

"Of course you do," she said then looked ahead towards Yang and Jaune. "They are really far ahead."

"Well, we are travelling on a decline, so gravity is working against them causing them to gain momentum and speed up," Weiss said then paused as she could feel Ruby's smirk form. She then felt Ruby pick her up by her back and knees. "Ruby Rose, don't you dare!"

"Too late!" Ruby exclaimed as she began running down the street.

* * *

"Ok, thank you, we'll just be in there for a little while," Pyrrha said to the guard as the four of them passed. After they entered the cells, the guard closed the large steel door behind them. "Well then, I have bought us a couple minutes of private conversation. I'll wait back here."

"Thank you," Blake said as Pyrrha quickly waved before leaning against the steel door. She then went to the back of the holding cells and saw where the deserters were sitting. "Hello there."

"We already told the commander everything we know," the wolf faunus said then looked up to Blake. "You're not one of them, are you?"

"No, we're not," Ren said as he pulled back the right side of his shirt to reveal the damaged slave sigil on his shoulder.

"Where were you from?"

"Carnival in Vale, both of us," Ren said pointing between him and Nora.

"I was," Blake began as she removed her bow to reveal her ears to then, "one of you. My name is Blake Belladonna."

"We know who you are," he said surprising Blake slightly. "You're the former right hand woman of Adam Taurus turned traitor."

"So, you know who I am, but you don't know why I left-"

"No, we know, it's why we left too," one of the other faunus interrupted her.

"Look, we weren't lying, we told the commander everything we knew," the wolf faunus said.

"Well…" a woman in the back said getting everyone's attention.

"For the last time, that was not real, Maddison," the leader interjected.

"Wait, what is she talking about," Ren asked.

"There was… something in the forests following us," Maddison said shaking slightly. "It was always shrouded in darkness, but we could hear it moving at night. I even went back on the trail a ways, and all I could find a trail of broken trees following us."

"That's interesting," Nora said then looked to Ren. "What do you think it was? Could it have been a grimm? A giant snake?"

"It was a monster!" the woman nearly shouted from the back of the cells.

"Hey! What's going on in there?" the guard asked as he began opening the door.

"Well, we're out of time," Pyrrha said as Ren, and Nora hurried to the door.

"We'll speak again," Blake said putting on her bow, then she ran to the door as the guard opened it.

"Thank you, sir," Pyrrha said giving him a nod as the four of them left the holding cells.

* * *

"But I don't want a new set of armor," Jaune complained as Yang and Ruby continued measuring various parts of his torso before writing them down. "What I have is fine."

"Well, to be honest, your armor is a little subpar," Yang said then began measuring his arm. "With the materials here, I could make you a decent suit of armor, but it would take almost a week."

"Well, we don't have a week, but you can probably begin making his armor," Weiss said then turned to walk to the back of the forges. "Just keep these blacksmiths distracted."

"You got it," Yang said giving her a thumbs up then tightly wrapped the measuring string she was using around his neck causing the other blacksmiths to look at her.

"Yang… air," Jaune said as he tried to reach around and move her hands.

"You know, Jaune, I remember a certain time when we may have needed neck armor. I'm just getting measurements in case we should make some," she said with a cheeky grin.

"Good luck," Ruby said to Weiss as she walked further ahead.

Weiss continued down the central path getting a couple looks from the blacksmiths, but Ruby quickly raised Jaune's arm and put it behind his head. That gave Weiss enough of a distraction to slip through the large hole in the wall.

When she entered the cave, she immediately felt uneasy at the sight of the golems, they just felt wrong. Despite this feeling in her gut, Weiss continued forward approaching the iron golems.

With the lack of light, Weiss couldn't see the symbols, so she drew her rapier and focused magic into the weapon causing it to glow. She then raised it up to see the symbols etched into the golem's head.

After memorizing the symbols, Weiss moved onto another golem to repeat the process. Then she moved to the next golem, and just as she memorized the next set of symbols, the door to the cave began opening.

She quickly sheathed her sword before one of the blacksmiths entered the cave carrying a large iron golem arm. "Your Highness, what are you doing here?" he asked as he dropped the arm and ran over to her. "This area is off limits and dangerous for anyone not part of the research team."

"Right," Weiss said then tried to remember how to speak in a posh manner. "Well, I assumed that since this entire fortress is my father's property, I could go where I wish."

"Hey, normally I would agree with you, but this place is dangerous." He then looked her over making sure she didn't record anything. He then grabbed her arm to lead her out. "Come on, your Highness, let's get you back to-"

"Unhand me!" Weiss commanded as she wrenched her arm from his grasp. "I can walk myself to the exit."

"Of course, your Highness," he said lowering his head to bow slightly.

"Forget that I was ever hear, lest my father know of you touching me," Weiss said to him as she turned on her heel and leave the cave before getting a response. She then held her head high as she walked back down the aisle causing the other blacksmiths to bow to her as she passed.

"No, I don't need ear armor!" Jaune nearly shouted at the two sisters who were each touching various parts of his head and face.

"But Jaune, you never know when you may come into a situation where a crazy guy might attack your ears," Ruby said as she began measuring his ears.

Before he could protest, Weiss interjected, "Guys, we can leave now."

"Thank you!" Jaune exclaimed as he tried to stand up and take a step only to trip due to his feet being tied to the chair. "Yang!"

"Actually, that was Ruby's idea," Yang responded as she grabbed him by the back of his collar to pull him up to his feet.

"Yeah, sorry about that, I was measuring your legs and couldn't resist," Ruby told him as she untied his feet.

"Let's go," Weiss said to them as she exited the building with the three following behind. Shortly after they left the building, Weiss let out a long sigh. "It's been awhile since I acted as a noble. Do they all really sound as posh as I think?"

"To be completely honest, they probably do," Jaune answered her. "I haven't met many nobles, but for the most part they do. You seem to be the exception."

"She wasn't when we first met," Ruby interjected causing Weiss to look at her in mild shock. "If I remember correctly, you said something like, 'dirty peasant food' about my cooking the first time we met."

"I-I thought you were out of earshot when I said that," Weiss said looking away from her girlfriend to hide her blush.

"You weren't exactly being quiet," she told her causing Yang to burst out laughing. "Either way, you've humbled a lot since then."

"W-well then," Weiss sputtered out as she pulled a piece of paper from her side pouch. Then she drew a piece of charcoal from it before writing down the symbols she saw on the golems' heads. "Yang, can you tell me what these say?"

Yang quickly grabbed the piece of paper from Weiss and began reading it. "This seriously can't be right. They're all names. Alexander Bailey, Sarahi Manning, and Elliott Hamilton. There is something wrong going on here."

"I agree, they're using people's names for the golems, that much can't be denied." Weiss paused causing the group to look at her. "One way or another, I need to speak with the Arcanist."

* * *

"What did you guys find?" Pyrrha asked as Weiss's group entered their guest quarters.

"The golems have people's names, what I read was not a mistake," Yang told them as they sat down on the large table.

A silence fell over the eight as they tried to figure out the solution. Ruby was the first person to look up at everyone. "You don't think they are turning people into golems, right?" she suggested. "Pyrrha, you said it yourself that it is impossible to create life. What if the Arcanist is transferring life into these things?"

"If that is the case, then this may be more dangerous than we think," she answered the reaper. "If someone can transfer a soul, then they would want to keep it a secret."

"So what you're saying is the less we know, the better?" Jaune asked looking at the knight.

"For our safety, it would probably be best if we don't ask too many questions," she told him as she turned to Yang and Blake. "The Arcanist saw you two, so you're more than likely being watched." She turned to Weiss. "You may already be watched since you went down there today with Yang."

"Only one of the blacksmiths saw me, and I commanded him to forget that I was there," Weiss told her.

"Ok, that might work out."

"I think it might be best if we stay up on the fifth level for tomorrow to train," Jaune said resting his hand under his chin. "If there is nothing we can really do, it would be best to avoid suspicion. They can only make more golems for one day, then the battle will start."

"After the battle is over, I can return to Mistral and check with the enchanters there," Pyrrha told them. "If I bring up the creation of golems, they might want to investigate. Then we can experts look into this matter, and we can remain safe."

"So what, until your enchanters come to investigate, you're just fine with the Arcanist killing people?" Yang asked slamming her fist on the table, her eyes already turning red.

"Yes," Pyrrha answered immediately. "Unless you like the idea of becoming one of those golems, or think you can take them all on, it would be in your best interests to stay out of this. I know this is bad, but if you intervene, you're just going to get yourself killed."

"But this isn't right!"

"Yang," Blake said placing one hand on her arm to try and calm her down, "look, she's right about this. We have a bigger problem at the moment, and it would be best if we focus on the White Fang."

Yang was silent for a moment before sighing allowing her eyes to return to their normal lilac color. "Fine, but don't think for a moment that I am fine with this," she said as she sat down.

"None of us are," Ruby said as Weiss squeezed her hand comfortably.

The room was silent again before Ren broke the silence. "I think we should go get some sleep. We have a long few days ahead of us."

* * *

On the second day, the group woke to an uncomfortable silence from their talk the day before about the golems. Deciding it was best not to stay in their room, the eight left and went out to the courtyard to train.

Ren sparred against Blake since their fighting styles were similar. Nora and Yang sparred together since Yang was the only one in the group who could take a hit from Nora's hammer. Jaune decided to sit on the side and practice his instrument and Pyrrha sat nearby to listen since she was already an elite knight. Ruby managed to find a rapier from the armory, so she and Weiss decided to practice her fencing.

"So, do you think Commander Ironwood had a chance to speak with your father about whether or not I can become a knight?" Ruby asked as she thrusted the blade forward only to have the princess block it with her shield.

"Probably not," Weiss answered her as she threw her right arm to the side redirecting Ruby's blade before striking forward. Ruby quickly jumped back just in time to avoid the weapon before regaining her footing. "I'm sure he would've talked to him, but then the deserters showed up telling us that the White Fang was about to attack."

"Right," she said as she began striking repeatedly only to have Weiss dodge them over and over. "I was just thinking that if he doesn't, then we might not be able to be together."

"Ruby, we'll figure it out, I know we will," Weiss said as she parried Ruby's sword before spinning around. As she spun, she let go of her sword before grabbing it in a reverse grip holding the tip under Ruby's chin, meanwhile her right arm raised her shield in order to block the reaper's right hand from grabbing her. "Your stance is wrong. You're making yourself a bigger target than you need to. When fencing, try to keep your sword hand in the front and your body turned."

"I'm still more used to fighting with my scythe," Ruby said as she slowly moved her hand around Weiss's waist. "Anyway, if I stand this way, I can do this!" She exclaimed as she grabbed Weiss then picked her up before spinning around.

Just as Weiss was moved, there was a loud bash nearby and Yang was thrown through where they had been landing into the ground close by. "Hey, sorry for _dropping_ in," she said causing the two of them to groan. "Piece of advice, never tell Nora to hit you as hard as she can."

"Why would you ever?" Weiss asked putting her face in her hand.

"I dunno, bored," she answered causing both girls to groan in mild frustration.

"Yang! I just thought of a combo attack!" Nora exclaimed as she began running over to the brawler. "Can you cover yourself in fire?"

"Yeah!" Yang exclaimed jumping to her feet as she figured out Nora's plan.

"Please don't," both Ruby and Weiss said as they watched Nora and Yang run off together.

* * *

During the rest of the day, Ironwood began sending out soldiers onto the field. As they got out there, the soldiers started fires to prepare in the event of a night attack. Then, many of the knights began moving catapults into the first level, on both the street and the walls. Other knights keeping watch on the forest noticed at the stroke of midnight that campfires could be seen started behind the treeline.

* * *

 **So, that happened. Three days in one chapter, technically two days, but whatever. I needed to cover a couple things before moving on. Now I just have one more left before Weiss enters the battle.**

 **Golems are people. You guys know I'm a big fan of Dragon Age, and fans of that game who have played Origins know what golems are, dwarves who got their souls put into golems giving them life. Originally I was not going to do this with the logic of 'magic cannot create life' then I remembered I already put in a golem, so I had to come up with something. Anyway, I have a decent storyline planned in the future involving the Arcanist's past. I'm repeating myself, but brownie points to those who can figure out who the Arcanist is based off of from the show.**

 **Anyway, battle is going to start soon, but I don't know when I'm going to be able to post the next chapter. I honestly think I'm going to develop carpal tunnel, so I'm going to take a couple days to let it heal.**

 **Tonight I'm going to Spider-Man Homecoming. I've been a Spider-Man fan for as long as I can remember, so I'm pretty excited to go.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	59. The Battle Begins

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A, who somehow managed to update the latest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. I'm back to using my laptop, but unfortunately I still don't have internet. I'm actually updating this from my local public library, which has free wifi.**

 **So yeah, this chapter is kind of another chapter of the calm before the storm, but we actually get the battle to start from JNPR's perspective near the end. I just needed to have a couple subplots that would be necessary for later chapters.**

 **Before I forget,** **the Arcanist is Penny's creator. He doesn't have a name in the show, so I kind of gave him one. So, those of you who were looking forward to Penny making an appearance... well, it won't happen during the siege, but the future seems promising.**

 **So anyway, reviews!**

 **KibaPT: The combo attack would be interesting, let's see if the two use it later in the siege. I don't know if I would want my dog's personality, my Saint Bernard gets real up close and personal while my lab/collie likes jumping on people. I hope you get better, my carpal tunnel symptoms have been going away just as long as I don't play video games for six hours straight or writing a full chapter with my phone.**

 **Tosaki: If anything, the Atlesians will use prisoners from actual prisons so that people won't notice their disappearance. Golems do use the souls of people, I will certainly confirm that. There is the matter of Penny, who is not human, but she won't be a golem either. Cinder has... her own story line I have prepared.**

 **Yakosh: I have already answered your review in the PMs.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: You would be correct in guessing the Arcanist's identity (you put alchemist, but I figured you meant Arcanist). I was thinking that the Yang Nora combo attack would be more like Nora hitting a flaming Yang with her hammer to throw her into the fight. Nora seems pretty strong being able to pick up her hammer, but that's magic, so in reality she's not that strong. Fantasy RPGs are my favorite games, and I could never get into FPSs, but my brother has been trying to get me into Destiny, which I'm decent at.**

 **Komiji: Well, Jacques certainly tries... you'll see. So, your theory seems interesting, but that's most certainly not going to happen. I mean, some concepts might already be part of a plan that I have been making, but I've foreshadowed most of them. One thing that kind of jumps out is the idea that Jacques might be ok with Weiss and Ruby... he's not. A kind of think I was thinking of was Atlesians basically being kind of homophobic and scared of magic... so like medieval times.**

 **Darkness3rick: Also, I seem to be good at doing cliffhangers and suspense, but at times it can seem annoying. Actually, I was originally going to have this chapter have a cliffhanger at the end where the battle is just about to start, but then I decided against it. So, you're on Xbox? Well, if you want to play together sometime on like Dark Souls, you should shoot me a PM with your username. Then when I actually get internet, I can play games online.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Wake up! Wake up!" Yang shouted as she burst into Ruby and Weiss's room causing the two to suddenly jump from their bed falling off each side, Ruby falling in between the wall and bed. "Seriously you two? There's two beds in here for a reason."

"Yang, why would you wake us up this early?" Weiss asked as she looked out the window while Ruby pulled herself up. "The sun's not even out."

"Exactly," Yang told her causing the two to be confused for a moment, "The battle. It's apparently going to start at dawn. Ren, Nora, Pyrrha, and Jaune are already making their way down to the battlefield."

"Why would Jaune go down to the battlefield?" Ruby asked rubbing her left eye. "I thought he hates fighting?"

"Apparently, Commander Ironwood told him that he either has to fight on the battlefield or load catapults on the wall," she explained to them confusing them again. "Apparently the boulders used in them weigh nearly two hundred pounds. I can do it easily, but Jaune, not so much."

"Right, right, right," Weiss said rubbing her head.

Blake then popped her head into the room. "Weiss, the knight who came by also told us that you need to go back to your father," she said then walked away to where her weapons were located. "Apparently, Commander Ironwood wants us on the wall."

"What could he want?" she yawned as she walked over to her armor. "You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up."

* * *

"Father?" Weiss asked as she walked into the war room wearing her armor resting her hand on her rapier's hilt. She could immediately see Jacques wearing polished armor with a blue lined white cape. On the other side of the table she saw Ironwood and a man wearing sparse armor and a white hood who she guessed was the spymaster. "You asked for me?"

"Yes," he said turning to her, "It has occurred to me that you are not staying in the royal quarters with your brother and sister, so you did not receive my missive."

"What are you talking about?"

Ironwood stepped forward motioning for nearby guards to walk forward. "Weiss Schnee, for the time being, you are to stay in the royal quarters of Fort Mantle until such occasion as the battle with the White Fang is over, by order of the king."

"What!?" Weiss asked them as she stepped away from the guards. "No, I'm going out there to fight."

"This is not your fight."

"This _is_ my fight," Weiss told them.

"Ms. Schnee, there is no need to put yourself in danger," the spymaster said to her, keeping his hood covering his face. "The entire Atlesian Army is willing and able to defend the royal family."

"I can take care of myself," she told them as she took another step away from the guards. "I have been taking care of myself since the assassination."

"Ms. Schnee, this is order of the king," one of the guards said as he gripped Weiss's shoulder.

"Let go of me!" Weiss commanded as she wrenched her arm free as her right hand began to glow blue. Just as the other guard reached for her, Weiss shot out her hand and flicked it upward. A wall of ice shot up from the floor trapping the guard's arm. This action caused the occupants of the room to pull back slightly in shock. She then shot out her hand towards the other guard causing the floor to be covered in a layer of ice causing him to fall over. Drawing her sword, Weiss focused her magic into the blade causing it to glow and form a thin layer of frost. "I can take care of myself. So, I am going to go out there, meet with my friends and help defeat the White Fang."

Jacques simply walked forward in front of Weiss and slapped her causing Weiss to freeze at what just happened. "You ungrateful little girl," he said as he knocked her rapier from her hand ignoring the burning cold sensation. "The White Fang want nothing more than to wring your neck. The best place for you and your magic tricks is in your room. Guards take her to her room, use magic dampening artifacts if necessary."

"That won't be necessary," Weiss said as she picked up her rapier. "I'll go to my room."

"Leave your sword here," Jacques commanded. "It's obvious you have your mage crystal implanted in that sword."

"Fine," she said gritting her teeth as she placed the sword on the war table. She then turned to the others in the room. "Don't touch that unless you want your hand to turn to ice." Weiss walked out of the room flicking her hand to the side causing the ice wall to crumble apart freeing the guard's hand.

* * *

"Weiss sure is taking a long time," Ruby said as she, Blake, and Yang continued to ride their horses through the third level.

"Well, we did get a head start," Yang said to her sister as she shuddered from the strange feeling she had as they passed the forges. "I'm sure she just needed to speak with her father a little. Then she'll hop on Snowflake and ride down to us."

"I don't know, I have an uneasy feeling about all this," Ruby said as she gripped the reins a bit tighter. "Something just feels wrong."

"Well, it might just be the pre-battle uneasiness you're feeling," Blake mentioned as she rode up next to her. "Some members of the White Fang would get this feeling before we raided a farm. It will go away during the fight, trust me."

"Are you sure you'll be ok with fighting the White Fang?" Ruby asked her.

"I'll be fine," she said as she clenched her teeth a little as they passed through the gate to the second level. "I used to have friends in the White Fang. Most of them died, but the others, they changed to the point where I couldn't even recognize them anymore. After this is over, I just want to go somewhere away from everything."

"Well, you could always-"

"Actually, we've talked about this already," Yang interrupted her. Ruby looked up at her sister and raised an eyebrow. "Well, you're planning on heading to Atlas, and Blake doesn't have anywhere to go, so I offered her a place back on Patch."

"You did?" Ruby asked her then turned to Blake.

"She did," Blake told her then sighed. "I think I will go. From the way you sisters talk about your home, it seems like a good place to live, for humans and faunus alike. After what I've gone through, I just want a home to go to."

"Oh, well, I'm happy for you. I think you will like Patch, and I'm sure dad would like to meet you," Ruby told her causing the two other girls to smile before turning ahead to see the gate to the first level in the distance.

* * *

"So, does anyone else feel queasy?" Jaune asked as he, Pyrrha, and Ren sat around a campfire in the battlefield, waiting for the sun to come up. Nora was standing just outside of the circle looking at one of the spiked metal barricade next to the fire.

"It is a feeling that most face before a battle," Pyrrha said as she sharpened her sword before looking at him with a concerned look. "If you ever become scared out there, come to me. I will protect you."

"I don't need protection," he said then looked to Ren and Nora, "but I do think it would be a good idea for us to stay together. We've fought together in the past, so it would be best we fight together now."

"I agree," Ren said as he began sharpening his daggers. "If the four of us stick together, we may be able to turn the tides of a portion of the battle."

"A well balanced team can certainly help change the tides of battle, but only if they work with others may they make a significant change overall," a new voice said as two men entered the circle. When their features could be seen, the four could see Erdin and Logan sitting down with Erdin mixing a white paste in a mortar and pestle. "Hello again," Erdin said smiling to the four.

"Hi," Logan muttered crossing his arms in front of himself.

"Hello~" Nora greeted them as she rested her hammer behind herself.

"So, what brings you over here?" Pyrrha asked looking to Erdin.

"A little pre-battle preparation," he said then scooped out the white paste with his hands and rubbed them together. "Since you and your friends are outsiders and don't have Atlesian Knight uniforms, you will have to be marked in a way that others will know not to attack you on the battlefield. The best way we can do that, would be to mark you with face paint."

"Really?" Jaune asked him, somewhat skeptical.

"Yes, it's the easiest method to figure out friend from foe. Hold still," he said then walked over to Jaune. Erdin then placed his hand over Jaune's face covering it with a white hand print over the left side of his face. "Now, we can tell that you are an ally."

"Thanks, I guess," Jaune said as Erdin repeated the process with Ren, who was completely stoic the entire duration. "It's very… wet."

"Well, it is paint."

"Ooh, me next, me next!" Nora exclaimed bouncing a little on the log she was sitting on.

"Very well," he told her as she placed his hand on Nora's face.

"Yeah, it's wet, ugh," Nora said sticking out her tongue a little, accidentally licking some of the paint off the side of her lips. "What is in this?"

"Nothing you'd want to know about," he told her as he placed a hand on Pyrrha's face marking her. "It's not too bad, but I wouldn't ingest large quantities if I were you."

* * *

Shortly after Weiss entered her room, she heard her door lock from the outside. She could see the lavish marble room in front of her. It was uncomfortably quiet as she walked further in, her boot making the only sounds with each step. After sitting down on the bed, she let out a long, frustrated groan as she fell on her back.

 _'What am I going to do?'_ she thought to herself. _'Everyone else is outside fighting in a battle, and I'm just sitting here like a stupid, useless, princess.'_

Looking out her window, she could see the sky begin to light up as dawn approached. It was only a matter of time before the battle would commence. "I can't stay here. If my friends are willing to put their lives on the line, so should I," she said as she walked over to her window overlooking the open field. It was then she realized she was on the third floor of the castle.

Pressing her hands against the window, she looked for any way to open it. She then slammed her fist against the glass only to have it bounce off. Hitting the window again, Weiss only managed to hurt her own hands.

"What the hell is this glass made of?" Weiss asked herself as she spun around to slam her shield against the glass causing a small single crack to form.

"That glass is heavily reinforced by magic," a voice said causing Weiss to jump a little and turn around only to see Winter enter the room closing the door behind her, "It is very difficult to shatter it using brute force, and is easily repaired by pouring some magic into it." She then walked past her little sister before placing her hand on the window. A moment later she removed her hand to reveal the crack had disappeared. "So, you have inherited the family magic."

"I have," Weiss told her as she put her hands behind her back. "You are also a mage, I take it?"

"Yes, the women in our father's familial line have all been notable mages," Winter told her as she leaned against the window. "Though, since father is a man, he was not able to have the benefits of the Schnee magic."

"The Schnee magic? I heard that some people believe it to be a kind of necromancy."

"Yes, some might think that. It is a very powerful form of magic where mages in our family can create and control creatures we have killed," she explained to her holding out her palm. A circle of light formed before a miniature white and blue nevermore rose from it. "The Schnees have kept this magic hidden from the world, with only few people knowing what it truly is, and others merely speculating."

"If this magic is powerful, then we should use it to help with the battle, not sitting in our room twiddling our thumbs," Weiss told her as she swatted the nevermore from Winter's hand and into the window. The nevermore caused several large cracks to form in the glass which Weiss noticed as it turned into white smoke.

"We cannot use our magic since it would expose who we are," Winter told her, somewhat agitated. "Magic is frowned upon in Atlas, and if the public were to find out that their rulers are mages, it would cause major disrupt."

"Then we should help them understand. Magic is frowned upon only because people do not fully understand it. Magical artifacts are powerful and dangerous, only if you don't understand how to use them," she said as she pulled the magic hilt from her belt and focused some magic into to create a rapier blade. "I have also learned that everything has its weakness, like glass reinforced against brute force would be weak to magic."

"Weiss, what do you think you are doing?" Winter asked her about to reach for her only to have Weiss turn and strike the glass. Upon contact with the magic blade, the window began to crack.

"I cannot just sit by and no nothing when I can help," Weiss told her as she dragged the blade upward causing the window to shatter. "So, I am going to fight." She then placed her hand on the window sill focusing magic there creating a large, slanted piece of ice leading to the ground.

Weiss jumped onto the piece of ice sliding down it until she hit the ground. Before she could give Winter a chance to follow, she flicked her hand causing the ice to crumble to the ground. Then she ran across the open grounds towards the stables. After Weiss opened the door, she came to a strange sight. Snowflake was already saddled and was wearing a sort of polished horse armor like the kind her father had on his horses.

"The Commander had a feeling that you would make your way out here," a man said walking out from behind Snowflake. He was wearing white and blue hooded robes and was walking with a staff with a yellow crystal at the top. "He also told me to bring this to you." He then reached to his belt and pulled out Weiss's rapier before tossing it to her.

"Aren't you supposed to take me back to my quarters?" Weiss asked him as she sheathed her rapier on her belt.

"Those were your father's orders, yes, but Commander Ironwood ordered me to assist you in the event of your escape. With all due respect to your father, I trust the judgement of the commander more," he told her as she shrugged and mounted Snowflake. "Do you need any more assistance, or may I go to the battlefield?"

"I should be fine," Weiss told him as she gripped the reins, "however, could you make sure the gates are open."

"That is simple enough," he said planting the base of his staff into the ground before kneeling behind it. Several bolts of electricity shot down the staff and through his body causing him to vibrate. "I wish you luck, Ms. Schnee."

"You too," she said then signaled for Snowflake to move. Before the horse could run, the mage immediately bolted out of the stables at a speed much faster than a horse leaving a bolt of lightning behind him before disappearing. "Ok, so, speed magic. Why am I not surprised?"

* * *

"I'm really concerned about what might have been in that paint," Jaune said as he wiped off some of the dry paint off his face and smelled it. He then turned to Erdin who was practicing his spear attacks. "Did you use bird feces?"

"It's not bird shit," Logan assured him drawing his flaming longsword to make sure it was sharp, picking off a small bit of charred goblin skin. "Trust me, it'll be fine. That stuff washes off easy."

"I'm sure it's just regular war paint," Pyrrha said taking off her red cape tying it around her waist. "We use it back in Haven, and the typical components are local flora."

"It's not flowers," Erdin said as the surrounding area started to become silent. "Ok, everyone's becoming quiet. What's going on?"

"The sun is rising," Ren said as everyone around the campfire stood up and drew their weapons.

The soldiers in the field looked to the forest seeing many faunus begin walking out into the open field. The soldiers of Atlas watched thousands of White Fang members enter the field, some of them bringing cannons and catapults slowly, ready to fire.

The entire field was silent as the two armies watched each other. From the front of the White Fang army, a large man wearing white armor and a full-face mask raised a greatsword above his head before letting out a battle cry charging forward. That battle cry signaled to all the White Fang to fire off their weapons causing cannonballs to hit the immediate ground forces while the catapults hit the middle of the Atlesian army. Fort Mantle immediately responded by firing off their own catapults, which due to better craftsmanship, fired further hitting many White Fang. The two armies then charged at each other ignoring the projectiles flying above their heads.

"Strun BAH QO!" Logan shouted while they ran. The shout echoed around the field as storm clouds formed overhead. Hail immediately began falling onto the field, striking both armies, only really being a mild nuisance to them. It was then that three lightning bolts shot down from the clouds, two striking randomly in the White Fang army, the third aiming near Logan's location, but before it could strike a nearby soldier, it turned hitting Nora throwing her to the ground.

"Nora!" Ren shouted as he stopped and quickly dragging her behind a barricade to avoid being trampled. "Nora, are you alright?"

"Alright?" Nora asked as she looked herself over. She could then see blue bolts of electricity go over her body. Curling back slightly, she jumped to her feet giving Ren a view of her hammer that's runes were now glowing blue. "I feel great."

She then took her hammer off her back and swung upwards hitting the back of the spiked metal barricades striking it with lightning. The metal barricade sailed over the Atlesian forces and directly into the charging army killing several White Fang striking nearby ones with lightning.

"That was effective," Ren remarked as he, Jaune, Pyrrha, Logan, and Erdin watched Nora return to her regular fighting stance. Then he watched as the hammer's runes stopped glowing.

"Nora, I never thought I would ever say this to anyone," Jaune said as the group began slowly getting back to the speed of the charging Atlesian army, "but you should actively try to get struck by lightning."

"You have about a three-minute window for that," Erdin said as their group neared the front line. "That spell lasts for five minutes, and Logan can only cast it once a day."

"Brace yourselves!" Logan shouted to them as he drew his shield from his back raising it in front of himself.

"This is going to suck!" Jaune shouted as he ran directly into a White Fang member, shield bashing him to the ground.

Jaune then shield bashed another White Fang member stunning him for a moment. Pyrrha took that moment to jump in between the two slashing the faunus's throat and kicking him back. Nora ran around the side of the two as she swung her hammer catching five White Fang throwing them into other members. Ren jumped up over Jaune and Pyrrha before throwing his daggers into the chest of one White Fang members.

Ren landed in front of the White Fang member pulling out his daggers just in time to duck under a longsword strike belonging to a White Fang member. Nora uppercut that same White Fang member throwing him in the air just as a nearby archer shot him in the neck. Pyrrha threw her shield hitting three nearby White Fang stunning them before the shield came back to her. After that, she quickly lunged forward slashing the first faunus's neck, stabbing the second one in the chest before pulling her sword out slamming the pommel of her sword into the third's head. As the third faunus stumbled back, Jaune struck with his sword, stabbing that faunus through the ribs.

They then watched as Nora raised her hammer into the air just as a lightning bolt struck the head charging it up. She then looked over to Jaune who had already been kind of crouched with his shield tilted. She ran up to him then jumped onto the shield before jumping into the air at the White Fang army slamming her hammer into the ground. As soon as the hammer connected with dirt, a cone of lightning erupted from her hammer striking every enemy within thirty feet.

* * *

 **Ok, there we go, the battle has started. So, I'm just going to tell you guys this now. Over the course of the siege, there will generally be three intertwining stories, sometimes with different groups, but generally the same. JNPR will basically be a team, but RWBY has some things they're going to do.**

 **Weiss got locked in her room for probably about five to thirty minutes depending on how long you think it took her to get there and lay in her bed. Then she kind of said 'fuck it, I'm leaving,' since I didn't really want to do a whole chapter of 'the princess is locked in a tower, so the dashing prince (in this case Ruby) must save her.' Honestly, with the character development she's had in the show, I kind of felt I made Weiss a bit softer. So, I guess I'll have to change that with the siege.**

 **Ruby, Blake, and Yang are on the wall. It's not going to be too flashy of a fight. Mostly it'll be Yang throwing a rock into the catapult, lighting it on fire, then firing the machine, so it'll be interesting to see what Blake and Ruby will do.**

 **JNPR are on the front lines. It'll be interesting seeing how they fight together against an army. Nora will be a big help, as long as she keeps getting struck by lighting, otherwise she's just swinging around a heavy hammer. Pyrrha is going to be fine, after all she's the invincible girl, and it's much to early to kill her off. Ren is going to do alright, but Jaune is the one I'm more concerned about. Hopefully, the bard doesn't get too affected by his lack of training.**

 **Also, grimm don't seem to have made their appearance, so either they aren't there, or Adam hasn't made his move yet.**

 **So, I'm going to spend the rest of my Monday hanging out with friends, then tomorrow, I'm going to get to work on writing this battle. Hopefully I can post next Sunday/Monday, but I'm not one hundred percent sure it will happen.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	60. The First Day of Battle

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. I know I missed the update day, but I have said before that I won't usually be able to normally update due to the lack of internet at my house. Actually, I had to visit a friends house in order to post this week. Though, whenever I miss an update day, I try to make the chapter longer than usual.**

 **So anyway, we have the first day of the battle going on. Weiss is making her way down, Blake, Yang, and Ruby are on the wall, and JNPR are on the battle field.**

 **I don't have much time to make a long AN, so let's get onto the reviews.**

 **Yakosh: So yeah, ruby's basically going to be bored for a bit. you are wrong about Blake and Yang though, well, if Adam did show up, Blake would go after him, so you're right there. You actually made a good point about the boulders. I was about to make Yang ignite the boulders, but then you brought that up.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Pyrrha is definitely going to make up for Jaune's lack of training. I first go into RPGs by playing Legend of Dragoon with my siblings, and even though we played through the whole game, I can't beat it by myself because of the damn puzzles.**

 **ShadyViper: I've been trying to improve my writing in general, especially since I'm taking this story more seriously than when I began.**

 **TheHuntress77: BumbleBY may happen later, but so far I'm just trying to get them to work more as partners. I honestly never did like the Damsel in Distress trope, but it does work for certain stories like The Princess Bride. Jaune's stuff will probably be happening in two chapters... maybe sooner.**

 **Only balogny (Chapters 10 and 45): And in seven words, you made me laugh a bit over the week.**

 **Only balogny (Chapter 59): No. Demons are demons. Though, Yang has a bit in common with demons, and I don't just mean the language.**

 **Darkness3rick: While the characters may not feel the tension during the battle, I am going to try and make it somewhat tense during the chapters.**

 **About logan: I try to be different. I mean, with this AU I have a lot of freedoms to divert from the source material. It will be interesting wehn I bring certain events from the show in. Logan is based off the Dragonborn. Also why would I make a character based off the Dragonborn and not use the FUS RO DAH? That would be a waste of the character.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

The battle had begun shortly after the White Fang's army fired off their war machines into the Atlesian forces. It was then that Yang and Blake began their part in the battle. Blake helped reposition and reload the catapult while Yang loaded the actual boulders into the weapon. The two simply repeated the process as the battle continued for several hours, repositioning the weapon as the battle changed.

The White Fang army, despite its smaller force, managed to hold its own and pushed forward making headway in the center of the battlefield since their stronger forces were focused there. The Atlesians struck hard on the outskirts hoping to push in the center, but ultimately, every attempt they had would be met with fierce opposition which only provided the White Fang with more ground. Occasionally, a spiked barricade would be launched into the White Fang's army providing little room for the Atlesians to push forward, but the battle would return to normal afterwards.

Ruby covered her ears as Yang launched off another boulder at the opposing army. Due to her preference to not kill, the younger girl simply sat down on a nearby boulder while her sister and Blake used the catapult. As the two worked to reload the machine, Ruby sighed as she looked towards the gate to the second level hoping to see Weiss.

"Hey, Ruby," Yang said catching her attention causing the girl to look over, "do you want to help? You and I could tag team these boulders."

"I would rather not," she answered her as she looked out to the battle. "Loading the boulders into the catapult is the same as firing it off, and you know I don't like killing people."

"It might actually be better if she doesn't help with the catapult," Blake interjected with a grunt as she pushed the back of the catapult aiming it more towards the side of the battle. "This isn't the first time the White Fang has attacked a walled fortress. They will attack upfront, but some will try to rush the walls and climb it. Ruby, you should watch for grapple hooks, and if you're as good a shot as I've seen, you can shoot down the hooks before anyone can climb the wall."

Ruby paused for a moment thinking about this before taking her crossbow from her back. "Ok, I can do that. If I knock the hooks off the wall, it shouldn't hurt anyone too much from a slight fall." She then looked briefly to the gate before standing up. "I hope Weiss can get here soon, but I can't keep waiting around."

"Right, you can meet up with your girlfr- GET DOWN!" Yang suddenly shouted as she tackled Ruby to the ground just in time to dodge a White Fang catapult boulder that sailed past them crashing into a building behind the wall. The sisters looked at the destroyed building for a second before turning to each other. "Ok, let's keep our eyes on the battle so next time we don't end up like that, I want to say tavern."

"I think it was more like barracks," Blake commented as she looked for the White Fang's catapult that fired at them. Spotting a trebuchet near the front of the White Fang army, she began the process of aiming their catapult there. "Yang, your muscles would be appreciated right now."

"Right. Ruby, keep an eye out for large projectiles," Yang told her as she got up and ran to Blake's side. She then formed her signature. "You know, Blake, if we were to load you in, it would become a real _cat_ -apult."

"Is now _really_ the best time for that?" she asked in mild annoyance at the brawler who was now chuckling at her own joke.

"It's as good a time as any."

"If you're really going to Patch after this, you're going to have to get used to puns. Dad is much worse than her," Ruby commented as she looked at the trebuchet from the other side of the battlefield seeing it fire another boulder. "Get down!" Yang and Blake immediately dived out of the way before the boulder crashed into the area they were just in before breaking a part of the wall sending the rubble into the fortress.

"That was close," Blake said as she and Yang stood back up. "We need to destroy that thing before it fires again."

"Got it," Yang said as she started to push the catapult, keeping an eye on the recently made hole as the catapult wheel neared, "just tell me when to stop."

"A bit more," Blake told her as she looked where the weapon was aimed. "Just a bit more."

"We're kinda running out of wall," she commented as the wheel neared the edge of the hole.

"I know, I know, we just need it moved a bit more."

"Guys, their trebuchet is loaded," Ruby informed them as she gripped her crossbow tightly. "If they fire, I may have to try something. I don't know if it will work, but my crossbow hits things harder than regular crossbows. I might be able to lessen the impact of the boulder."

"It might not work, but we'll have to try," Yang said as she pushed slightly more, but the wall near the hole began to crumble under the weight of the catapult causing the war machine to jerk suddenly, one wheel falling in the hole. "Shit!" She immediately jumped from her spot to the wheel and began trying to pick it up.

The enemy trebuchet fired sending a boulder directly at their catapult. "It's now or never," Ruby said as she raised her crossbow aiming it at the large rock. Firing off her bolt, it sailed directly at the boulder hitting it with a large crack causing it to seemingly slow down, but not stop. Due to this slight loss of momentum, the boulder crashed into the sturdier front side of the wall only managing to leave a small impact mark before falling to the ground.

Yang managed to pick up the catapult, keeping it level just in time for Blake to use the release mechanism sending the boulder flying. The three watched as it sailed through the air crashing directly into the trebuchet, destroying it.

Yang sighed as she pushed the catapult back onto the wall. "You know, that kinda sucked."

"I agree," Blake said as she looked around the area spotting another trebuchet firing at the main gates to their right, "but we need to continue."

* * *

"You know," Jaune announced to the rest of the four as he blocked a greatsword with his shield before Ren threw one of his daggers into its owner's neck, "this kind of sucks."

"This is battle," Pyrrha said to him as she jumped forward catching an archer's head between her knees before twisting her lower body snapping his neck. As the archer fell backwards, Pyrrha sliced a nearby White Fang's neck before throwing her shield into the lower abdomen of a warhammer wielder causing him to curl over slightly. As she hit the ground, she rolled to land on her feet just in time to catch her shield and thrust forward stabbing into the faunus's head. The knight then turned to Nora and came up with an idea. "Hey, Nora, hit this."

"Right, what?" Nora asked turning to Pyrrha as she threw her shield. She grinned as she pulled back her hammer before hitting the knight's shield sending it flying into the White Fang's army, cutting through several members before impaling it into the chest of a large bear faunus wielding a greataxe. "Ok, that was interesting. Jaune, throw me your shield!"

"Yeah, no way!" he shouted back as he raised said shield to block the fist of a monkey faunus. He didn't see as the monkey faunus delivered a right hook catching Jaune in the cheek. He slashed at the faunus who barely dodged causing the sword to barely cut his chest. He then charged with his shield slamming it into the chest of the monkey faunus, knocking him to his back.

The monkey faunus then curled back before jumping to his feet. He was about to attack Jaune again, but a bronze colored spear impaled the faunus in the side through his ribs causing him to immediately fall over on Jaune.

"Jaune, are you alright?" Pyrrha asked as she pulled the monkey faunus off him and helping the bard back to his feet. They looked around and saw mostly Atlesian soldiers pushing forward and a few remnants of White Fang in the area. "Take a quick break, you need to keep breathing. I'll watch for any attackers."

"I-I'm fine," Jaune told her taking deep breaths as he tried to get back into his battle stance. "What about you? Isn't your shield gone?"

"I'm fine, I haven't been hit yet." She then ducked under a katana from behind before spinning around and uppercutting that faunus knocking him out. She then faced Jaune again as she retrieved her spear from the monkey faunus's side. "Though, I'm going to get my shield now," she said holding her spear with her left hand and her sword in her right before turning to where her shield was.

"You're a kind of force of nature, aren't you?" Jaune asked her as he watched her begin to walk forward.

"Well, I did receive the rank of Elite Knight on my own merits," she said then ran forward. As she approached the first White Fang member, Pyrrha used her spear to stab them in the chest. Then she spun around pulling the spear from his chest before slashing another nearby opponent's chest open.

A faunus wielding a katana was about to strike Pyrrha, so she caught the sword with her own. She countered by redirecting the sword and kneeing the faunus in the chest causing him to stumble back. Then, using her spear, she impaled him in the chest.

She suddenly had to duck under a large wolf shaped warhammer head belonging to a large boar faunus. Then she jumped back just in time to dodge the warhammer's downward strike that broke the spear's shaft. Jumping back, Pyrrha had to raise her sword defensively to block a direct hit from the warhammer which ended up throwing her next to her shield.

After retrieving her shield, Pyrrha prepared to fight the boar faunus, but before she could charge him, she watched as Jaune's longsword emerged from his chest. The boar faunus turned to face him causing Jaune to let go of his weapon and back up slightly. Ren immediately grabbed Jaune's shoulder throwing the bard to the side before using his daggers to slash at the boar faunus's ribs. He then dived between the boar faunus's legs slashing his ankles before Nora jumped forward uppercutting him with her hammer killing him.

"Ok, that was fun," Jaune sarcastically said to them as he pulled his sword from the faunus's back. "So, we need to keep fighting these guys for how long?"

"For as long as it takes," Ren told him flicking the blood off his daggers. "I can already tell, this is going to be a while."

"What, are you guys tired already?" Nora asked them as she leaned against her hammer. "I can do this all day." Despite her statement, Ren could tell his childhood friend was becoming more exhausted. He could see sweat forming on her forehead and that she was breathing heavier than usual. "Now, come on, let's get back in the fight."

"That's probably a good idea," Ren said walking up to Nora, placing a glowing hand on her back without her noticing, "the brief breathing room the Atlesian's gave us in their advance might go away in a moment."

The other two noticed as Ren removed his hand and stumbled back slightly, but Jaune decided it was best to say nothing. "Guys, how about a change of tactics?" Pyrrha asked as she watched Jaune place his hand on Ren shoulder to catch the rogue before he fell. "Nora, I think you and Jaune should go on ahead. Ren and I will take care of stragglers here and meet up with you in a bit."

"Uhh, sure?" she skeptically agreed turning to her friend just as he stood on his own. "What do you think?"

"It is a decent plan," he agreed.

"I think we'll do fine," Jaune said to her. "I can hold them back decent enough and you can hit pretty hard."

"You're darn right!" she exclaimed with a grin as she picked up her hammer with one arm and grabbed Jaune's arm with the other. "Let's go!" Before he could protest, the shorter girl dragged him away to the front line.

"Do you need a moment?" Pyrrha asked Ren as the other two were out of earshot.

"I think so," he replied sitting down on the ground crossing his legs, closing his eyes, and clasping his hands in front of himself. "I just need to meditate for a moment. My chi can rejuvenate me, I'm just running low at the moment."

"Alright, I'll stand guard," she told him as she drew her sword and shield and turned to the opposing army. "Are you sure you can meditate during all this?" His silence was her answer.

* * *

Weiss neared the first level gate just in time to watch as a boulder landed in the street just beyond the gate causing Snowflake to rear back in surprise nearly throwing the princess off. Deciding it was best, she dismounted her horse and led her into the nearby stables that remained untouched. After leaving the stables, she drew her rapier and kept her shield at the ready as she ran to the first level.

She did not expect to come to the site of several nearby building collapsed, having some limbs sticking out from the rubble. From the boulder that had recently impacted, she could clearly see a large bloodstain with several arcs of blood splattered nearby. She took a single step forward but stumbled slightly, and when she looked down to see what she had stepped on, she could see only the forearm of an Atlesian soldier laying on the ground covered in blood.

Just as she was fighting the urge to vomit, she looked up and saw Commander Ironwood approaching her. "Ms. Schnee, this is not a safe area. Some of the enemy trebuchets have progressed to the point where they can damage the fort. Come with me," he said placing his heavily armored right hand on her back to lead her further into the first level.

"Is-is he-?" she asked trying to pry her eyes away from the forearm.

"He's dead," Ironwood answered her immediately. "He died in the service of his kingdom, an honorable death."

"H-how many h-have we lost?" she asked closing her eyes to turn her head forward. "A-are my friends-?"

"Your friends are all right," he told her causing the princess to breathe a sigh of relief. "They are working hard to take down enemy trebuchets and climbers. I cannot say how many we have lost, but they are nearing the thousands. Adam Taurus has not been spotted, and we believe he is remaining at their base camp for the first assault. As far as I can tell, we have killed more of the White Fang than they have of us, but wounded keep arriving as we speak, and I fear we don't have enough healers for them."

Her eyes snapped open and looked up at him. "Where? I might be able to help."

"Well, we have been bringing the wounded into the cave system, but why would you want to go there, I thought you would want to join your friends on the wall?" he asked as he began leading her into a nearby building.

"I can be more help tending to the wounded rather than stuck on a wall. I may be able to create ice, but I have healing magic too," she answered him as they walked further in the building. They opened a heavily fortified back door that led to a large room where soldiers lay, some mages helping to heal the wounds with magic, others with medical supplies.

"Alright then, if you need to, feel free to leave for a bit," he said as they watched another knight being carried in with a large wound in his chest, "I know from experience that dealing with constant gore can be unnerving."

"I'll be fine," she said as he turned around to leave. "Commander Ironwood, can I have you relay a message to my friends that I am fine and where I am?"

"I'll send a knight to them immediately," he answered her looking back for a second before exiting the cave.

"Ok, let's do this," she said taking a deep breath before gagging from the smell and taste of blood in the air. Looking around, she could see some of the healers were wearing masks. Pausing for a moment, she sheathed her sword and reached to her cloak tearing off a long strip to wrap around her mouth and nose. "Now, let's do this."

* * *

Ruby fired off another crossbow bolt shattering a hook before it could secure to the ledge. From behind her, Blake fired off another boulder that destroyed a trebuchet near their end of the battlefield. Yang began breathing heavily as she moved another boulder to their catapult from their diminishing supply of ammunition.

"That's the fourth trebuchet we've destroyed," Blake remarked as Yang loaded her boulder into the machine. "Are you still able to go?" Yang's only response was a slow thumbs up. "We can take a quick break if you need it."

"I can load the catapult if you need a break," Ruby said causing Yang's hair to immediately ignite.

"No!" Yang nearly shouted as she looked up at her sister with red eyes. "You said you did not to load the catapult because that would be killing. I'm not going to force you to kill because I can't keep up."

"And I'm not going to let you kill yourself from exhaustion," Ruby told her as she ran up to her. "Take a break!"

"Ruby, I'm not going to argue with you on this. You're not going to kill anyone."

"It won't be the first time-"

"Will you two quit arguing and get out of the way!" Blake shouted at the sisters as she jumped over pushing Yang out of the way.

The sisters looked over the wall and saw a large red glowing boulder sailing at them. Ruby managed to jump backwards as the boulder collided with the wall under their catapult and exploded. The explosion created a large hole in the wall causing their catapult to fall onto the battlefield.

"What the hell was that?" Yang nearly shouted as she looked at the hole in the wall seeing Ruby stand up on the other side. "Do they have bombs?"

"I think that was a Dust crystal," Blake said rubbing some dirt from her eyes. "Crystals that size are rare, so I think the White Fang only has a few others meant for breaking down gates."

"Were we that big of threat?" Yang asked as both she and Blake stood up.

"Apparently so, if we were targeted," she told her then looked to Ruby, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she said making sure she still had her weapons. Then she reached up and touched a small cut on her cheek. "My armor took most of the hit."

"Is everyone fine?" a knight asked them as he ran across the wall on Ruby's side of the hole.

"We're ok, but our catapult, not so much," Yang told him as she gestured to the hole in front of them.

"Right, well, the commander wanted me to deliver you a message," he said causing them to look at him. "Apparently, he wanted me to inform you that your friend is safe and currently helping to heal the injured in the cave system."

"Weiss?" Ruby asked cocking her head to the side.

"The princess?"

Yang looked to her sister, who was fighting the urge to run off. She then looked to Blake who turned to face the wall seeing several hooks securing themselves to the wall. "Ruby," she said snapping her sister to attention, "go to Weiss. Trust me, you're more help saving lives than taking them."

Ruby paused as she looked between her sister and the back of the first level. She then took a step backwards and looked back up at her sister. "Thank you, Yang, I'll be back," she said then jumped off the wall onto the street, "Stay safe!"

"I will!" she called back as she watched Ruby disappear in between the buildings before turning to Blake. "So, that kusarigama of yours, how long is its chain?"

"Well, it's pretty long," Blake told her as she pulled out the sickle and weighted dagger ends holding them out in front of herself. "Why?"

"Oh, I'm going to jump off the wall," she told her confusing the faunus as she grabbed the sickle end before jumping off the wall. "Just catch me!"

"Yang!" Blake shouted as she looked over the ledge feeling the chain running out. She gripped he dagger tightly just before the chain ran out as she braced herself keeping her feet pressed against the ledge. "Are you still there!?"

"I'm here, just hanging out!" Yang called back giving Blake a thumbs up as she peeked over the wall.

"You know, I can still drop you!"

"I would rather you not!" she shouted as she placed her feet against the wall before using the kusarigama as an anchor and running along the side towards a White Fang wall climber. She snapped her fingers creating a small fireball in her hands before throwing it at the climber forcing them to fall. "Just hold onto that dagger, and we'll be fine… well, I'll be fine, you're good either way."

"You do know you are kind of heavy?" Blake asked her as Yang jumped off the wall flying backwards while cocking her fist back and spinning the chain around just in time to punch a monkey faunus off his rope before ripping the rope from the wall.

* * *

"Weiss?" Ruby called as she entered the infirmary seeing the white-haired girl before running over to her.

"Ruby?" Weiss asked looking up from the knight she finished healing to see her girlfriend run up to her. "What are you doing here? I thought you were on the wall? You're not injured, are you?"

"No, I'm fine," she answered her as Weiss moved onto the next knight who had several arrows pierced in his chest. "Long story short, our catapult blew up, so I came to check up on you."

"Well, I'm fine," she said lifting the knight's tunic and cringed slightly at the sight of the wound, "… as fine as I can be." Holding her hand over the wound, Weiss focused her magic into her hand casing the wounds to slowly close. "I can already feel my magic slowly running out."

"Do you need a break?" Ruby asked her as she placed her hand on Weiss's shoulder.

"No, I'll be fine," Weiss said as the knight's deep wounds closed to the point where they weren't life threatening.

Ruby saw this and quickly moved Weiss's hand away from the wounds causing it to stop glowing. "You've done all you need," she said picking up a clean roll of bandages to begin wrapping the wounds, "his body can heal itself now. You need to conserve as much magic as you can. Move onto the next knight and heal them to the point where they won't die, I'll work on wrapping their wounds."

* * *

Several hours had passed with the battle slowly dying down, both armies growing tired. The White Fang's trebuchets and cannons were mostly destroyed by Fort Mantle's catapults, but their forces still managed to take slightly over half of the battlefield. The Atlesians were getting into a defensive formation, placing several rows of spiked barricades spanning across the entire front line, having archers shoot any White Fang that approached.

Up in the fort, on the wall above the main gate, Commander Ironwood, the spymaster, Arcanist, strategist, and Qrow were gathered around the makeshift war table looking at the figures Ironwood had positioned on the map.

"Chief Strategist, what are your suggestions?" Ironwood asked not looking up from the table. "No matter how I look at it, we might end up being overwhelmed."

"There is one option," the strategist said as he reached to the side of the table and picked up a small golem figure. "Arcanist, are your golems battle ready?"

"They are, in theory," he man replied as he took the golem figure from the strategist and inspected it. "I have not tested controlling many of them at once, and my assistants have no experience controlling oven one golem."

"How many do you think we could have on the battlefield within the hour?" Ironwood asked looking to the bald man.

"I can control thirty at once," he answered him as he pulled the wooden stick from his sleeve focusing some magic into the stick. "Though, their effective range might reach the front lines, but beyond that, they will deactivate."

"Very well, send them, we can use them to help guard the front line while our knights recover," Ironwood said writing a message down on a thin piece of paper before tying it to an arrow before handing it to the spymaster. "When the golems are in position, send this message down to inform our troops."

"Right," the spymaster said giving the commander a quick bow as the Arcanist began chanting some other language.

"So, you think this is going to really help out?" Qrow asked leaning against the table crossing his arms in front of himself. "You know that some faunus are able to see in the dark. You _do_ know that, right?"

"Of course, I know," Ironwood said to him. "We cannot run our soldiers to exhaustion, and the best that we can do is keep the area illuminated and have our archers watching the barricades. If we can have golems be there as additional protection, then it will be the best we can do."

"And none of you are concerned about the fact we haven't seen any grimm yet?" Qrow asked, looking to the three other war table advisors.

"If we haven't seen grimm, then even better," the strategist said looking at the knight. "A couple beowolves won't be a problem. The deserters could have even lied."

"Or, this is just a test run. We don't fully know what the White Fang army is capable of, and you all are just brushing it off, acting like we're superior. If you can't realize that we might be at a disadvantage, then we're doomed," Qrow told them giving them a half wave as he walked down the stairs towards the street.

"Qrow, where are you going?" Ironwood asked the knight.

"To get a drink," Qrow told him, not even looking back at the commander. "I'm sure there's a tavern somewhere in this fortress city."

* * *

"So, how did your fight on the wall go?" Weiss asked Yang and Blake, as the two approached where she and Ruby were sitting on the ground against the wall outside of the infirmary.

"It was… interesting," Blake said rolling her shoulder as she looked over Yang who was smirking.

"I jumped off the wall," Yang told them chuckling a little.

"Shortly after Yang started using me as an anchor with my kusarigama, other knights on the wall began combating the wall climbers," she said as the two sat down next to Weiss and Ruby. "When things died down, we helped other groups with their catapults, but then we ran out of boulders."

"What did you two do?" Yang asked looking over to her sister.

"I helped bandage wounds while Weiss healed them," Ruby answered her, leaning her head back against the wall. "Today was a long day."

"It won't end as long as Adam is still alive," Blake said looking to the three. "He hasn't even showed his face yet, which means he's planning something. He didn't even use his grimm-controlling sword to send some beowolves our way. And now the white Fang has over half of the battlefield."

"You think the next strike is going to be worse?" Yang asked her friend.

She nodded. "If this was the main attack, Adam would've been in the front line, forcing his way through the gates." She paused, bringing her hands up to clasp the sides of her head. "Adam needs to die, before he can deliver a devastating blow."

"And how do you suggest we do that, sneak behind enemy lines and attack him?" Weiss asked, sounding somewhat agitated.

"That's not actually a bad idea," Yang said confusing the others. "I'm serious. If Adam is controlling the grimm with his sword like the deserters say, then killing him before the battle starts would be a sound plan. The grimm wouldn't be under his control, and the battle would be easier to win."

"You're forgetting one other factor," Blake said causing Yang to raise an eyebrow at her. "The Witch of the Wilds, Cinder is there. If we were to go there, we would have to fight her. Not to mention, she wants your sister's eyes, so if she goes with, then we're basically just giving her what she wants. Also, Adam wants to kill Weiss, more than anything."

"So, they just won't come with."

"What?" Weiss asked her.

"That's not going to happen," Ruby told her sister. "Then it would just be you and Blake fighting against powerful enemies. You'd just be killing yourselves."

"Well, do you have a better suggestion?" Yang asked standing up, towering over his sister slightly. "Because in case you forgot, that witch wants to eat your eyes to gain more magic power. If you come along, and she somehow manages to take one of your eyes, it would mean death for all of us." She then turned to Weiss. "And Adam really wants to kill you, and I'm sure he would stop at nothing to kill you specifically. So, the safest plan we have is for Blake and I to go there."

Blake's head snapped up. "Not exactly," she said jumping to her feet. "We're only thinking of us four going, but we don't have to."

"What are you talking about?" Weiss asked the faunus. "The others? They're on the battle field, so I don't think you'd be able to find them in time."

"Not the others, the White Fang deserters," Blake said confusing them. "Since they are faunus, if we can get them to help us, we can sneak behind enemy lines, get to the base camp, and attack Adam and Cinder before they can retaliate."

"That's only if you can convince them to help you," Ruby said looking up to Blake. "Then you would also have to sneak them out of the fort, onto the battlefield, and then behind enemy lines. Also, what about Yang? She's not a faunus, so she wouldn't be able to sneak behind enemy lines."

"We can disguise her simple enough," she said to them. "If we get her a White Fang mask, the others won't ask any questions. If anything they'd think her animal traits are hidden under her hair."

"Ok, so it's a plan," Yang said clapping her hands together getting everyone's attention. "Blake and I will go get the White Fang deserters, sneak behind enemy lines, and kill Adam and Cinder before they can use the grimm."

"I don't like this plan," Weiss said crossing her arms in front of herself. "You're thinking you can just waltz right into the camp and kill the leaders without any kind of resistance. Something is bound to go wrong."

"Well, if anything does go wrong, we'll handle it," Yang said giving the princess a confident smirk. "We always do."

"Come on, we'll have to hurry if we want to get there before morning," Blake said grabbing Yang hand before beginning to run off towards the second level.

"Be safe!" Ruby said to them causing Yang to give her a thumbs up as she and the faunus turned around the corner.

* * *

 **Alright, so there we go. I enjoyed writing the trebuchet battle at the beginning, though Ruby slowing down the boulder with her crossbow might have been a bit far fetched, but then again, her crossbow has been weird since it showed up.**

 **Pyrrha is badass. There's not much else to say about that, except maybe I focused a bit too much on her. I did enjoy making Ren caring for Nora by using his chi to rejuvenate her a bit.**

 **Weiss pretty much would've been useless on the wall, so it was probably better for her to be working on healing the knights. The next chapter however, she and Ruby will not be in the infirmary.**

 **Now then, we get the basis for the next chapter, Yang and Blake going behind enemy lines to kill Adam and Cinder. So that will be interesting.**

 **I need to get going soon. After all, it is midnight, and I have some thing to do in the morning. I probably won't be able to post on Sunday because that's four days to write a really long chapter.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	61. Behind Enemy Lines

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A and this is the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. I know this chapter is a bit late, but I didn't have internet for a while, and then I had something come up that didn't allow me to write for a few days. On the bright side, I now have internet, finally. Now I can post chapters conveniently from now on.**

 **So, before I begin, I will say that a decent portion of this chapter may involve lackluster writing because at the time I wasn't thinking straight for those portions. I may go back and edit them in the future, but so far, I think it works. I did make it bigger than usual, so I think it might work.**

 **This chapter is just following Blake and Yang's adventure instead of jumping between the individual groups. I figured I would do that instead, since it would make somewhat more sense to follow one group.**

 **Also, I should probably say that since this story is technically rated T, some scenes in here are filled with gore. They aren't terribly graphic, but I feel as though I should say something. I mean, I wrote a scene describing Ruby having her eyes cut out, but even then I wanted to write a small disclaimer at the beginning of that chapter.**

 **So, reviews:**

 **Yakosh: While yes, Ruby's crossbow could probably hit the trebuchet, she couldn't accurately aim it at the trebuchet without the possibility of hitting something else.**

 **nmillazzo: Ruby and Weiss will have a difficult time convincing the king, but we'll see what happens.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Ruby's chapter is going to be interesing, but yeah it will be good that Weiss is with her. Yang and Blake are going to have a long day.**

 **tallon2692: No, then possibly yes.**

 **Komiji: You know, in D &D, we have one simple rule, don't split up the group. Yang and Blake will have an interesting day. The rest of your review I can't really comment on since it would spoil a lot, but no to some stuff.**

 **Tosaki: Jaune is going to keep his head level for a large portion of the battle, so his survival will be assured for a while at least. Jacques is mostly being cautious. Well, Blake and Yang's mission was more thought up on the spot. As of the last chapter, they don't have an escape plan in place.**

 **RedLikeRuby: Weiss and Yang are pretty close to the show as I can make it. They can fight at close range, but their magic helps out a little with range. Ruby has her scythe, so she can fight close range, and she has a crossbow for long range. Blake is supposed to be a mid and close range fighter, so I think I wrote her decently.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"No," the deserter's leader said as he turned away from Blake and Yang. "Your plan is stupid. You think that we can just escape from jail, wander down to the battlefield, sneak behind enemy lines, and kill Adam Taurus, just like that? It's basically suicide."

"I know it's asking a lot, but this is the only way that we can end the battle before it truly starts," Blake said causing a few faunus to look in her direction. "Adam was not on the front line fighting his way to the fort, and I'm sure some of you might recognize that this is strange. The only reason he wouldn't be out on the battlefield would be if he has something else planned. If you say that he can control the grimm, then we just have to kill him, or even just take way his sword, but we can't do that here."

The wolf faunus stood up before taking a few steps to the bars. "No, we aren't just going on some suicide mission. The Atlesians are _really_ close to just killing us outright because we used to be part of the White Fang, and if some of us leave, they would think that we were just spies, so if we return, they'll kill us," he told her then returned to his spot and sat down. "If we leave, we're dead, but if we stay, we have a chance to survive."

"Or, if Adam goes along with his plan, we're all dead," Yang told them with a slight growl as she grabbed the bars causing the metal to heat up. "Do you really think you're safe in here? I don't know much about the White Fang, but I do know they don't take kindly to traitors. When they break through to this level, they will find you, and they will kill you. What would you rather do, sit on your ass and let the White Fang come here, or will you do whatever you can to stop them?"

"You don't think I want to stop them?" the wolf faunus nearly shouted at her as he leaped next to the bars and grabbing them to look Yang in the eyes. "I want to do everything I can to help out my people, but I have to think about _my_ people first," he told her quietly as he gestured to the people in the cell. "We have children here, whom if we didn't drag along, would be shedding their blood on the battlefield for a worthless cause."

"Really?" Blake asked as she approached the bars and crouched down catching the attention of a dog faunus child. "How old are you?"

"I'm thirteen," the boy answered her causing Blake to recognize the hardened scowl as the same she once had.

"Tell me, how long have you been part of the White Fang?"

"Three years now," the boy answered her. "The White Fang saved me before the slavers could take me."

"If you've been part of the White Fang for that long, then you know it changed over the years," she told him as she stared into his focused scowl.

"I've done terrible things in the White Fang," he said as his scowl softened slightly.

"I know that all too well," she told him as she looked down. "I've killed innocent men and women all for the sake of faunus freedom, but then I noticed that what we were doing was wrong. The White Fang is too dangerous, and we can stop them." She then stood up and looked to everyone in the cells. "This is a decision for each of you individually. If you decide to stay, we will no longer ask for your help, but if you come with us, we will do what we can to stop Adam, even if we might die."

The room was silent as the deserters looked among themselves muttering. After a short while, a woman in the back looked to Yang and Blake saying, "I can't go out there. I don't want to die."

"Neither do I," another faunus said moving to the back of the cell to sit next to the woman.

"I'm going," the boy from before said standing up. "We can't just stay here. So, I'm going."

"Thank you," Blake said to him causing the boy to turn to him giving her a nod.

"I'm going too," an older woman said standing up to the bars.

A couple faunus looked to each other and ten more deserters moved to the back of the cell, and five more moved to the bars leaving the leader of the group standing in the middle of the cells causing everyone to stare at him. "A lot of you are staying here," the wolf faunus said as he glanced at the back of the cell before looking at the bars, "but some of you are going, and it will be dangerous. I will go." He then walked towards the bars with the others. "My skills are better suited to fighting. Now, how are we going to get out of here." They were about to begin planning how to break out, but then they were cut off by the screech of the gate opening. When they looked over there, they could see Yang holding the bars. "How did you?"

"Pyromancy," Yang said holding up her hand revealing a pile of molten steel that used to be the cell's lock. "Come on."

"You could've waited for a second," Blake said from the front door as she picked up the cell keys before sighing. "Whatever, we can't waste any more time. Follow me, I'll find us a way down to the battlefield as fast as I can."

* * *

"So, when we near the point of the wall where a jump off won't kill us, we'll jump onto the roof of the closest building," Blake told everyone as she led them across the roofs keeping an eye on Yang who was having difficulty keeping her balance. "Once we reach the main wall, we will have to climb the mountainside to avoid soldiers and be on the outside of the battlefield."

"Right," the wolf faunus said to her as they leaped the gap between two buildings. "Before we reach the main camp, we will need to acquire some White Fang masks and weapons to avoid suspicion."

"So, what are your names?" Yang asked as she pushed herself harder to catch up.

"Well," the leader said looking to her, "the fox faunus's name is Andrew. The boy's name is Patrick. You know Maddison from the day you visited us, she's the raccoon faunus. Stephanie is the polar bear faunus. Carina is the cheetah faunus. Fjord is the elk faunus, watch his antlers. Pepper is the tiger faunus." They all began to slow to a stop on the roof of what appeared to be an empty tavern. Moments later some of the deserters jumped onto the nearby wall then off to the roof of the closest building on the next level. "And my name is Marcus." He then gave her a nod before jumping clean over the nearby wall landing on the roof with the other deserters.

"So, you think you can do this?" Blake asked Yang as the brawler began preparing herself to jump.

"I'll be fine" Yang said as she focused magic over herself creating a barrier, mostly around her legs. "I'm not exactly as agile as the rest of you, so I hope I don't kill myself from this plan."

"If you ever need a hand, just ask," Blake told her as the two took a few steps back before jumping off the building. Yang landed on the wall while Blake leaped clean over, then Yang jumped off the wall and the both landed on the roof. As Yang landed, her foot broke through the roof.

Yang attempted to pull her foot free before looking up to Blake. "About that hand?"

* * *

"It is freezing," Blake said shuddering as the group of ten trudged through a foot of snow when they walked along the mountainside. "Yang, how can you be just fine?"

"What?" Yang asked turning around just in time for the wind to nock a small pile of snow onto the blonde. She quickly shook her head then wiped her face clearing any remaining snow from herself. "I guess my face is a bit cold, but other than that I'm fine. Why? Oh, right, my chainmail."

"It's completely freezing," Marcus said flicking his wolf ear to throw off some forming ice. "We might get hypothermia in about half an hour from the mountain winds. I suggest we get to the base of the mountain as soon as we can, then we can maybe heat up around a fire or something."

"I can help with that, actually," Yang said as her hair began to glow, radiating heat for a moment before stopping. "It won't be a good idea to melt the snow up here."

"Right, if we follow this path, we should arrive at the base of the mountain path in less than half an hour," Fjord told them as he pointed down the path in front of them. "Once we're down there, we should be past he Atlesian's barricade. Then we can collect masks and weapons from fallen faunus as we make our way to the forest."

"Your human friend will have to take a cloak to cover up her armor," Carina told Blake as the group continued down the path avoiding the ice that Yang nearly slipped on. "Also, the scent may cover up her normal smell."

"So, you've noticed it too," Blake said as they both forward to Yang.

"The scent of embers is too strong not to notice."

"Hey!" Yang said turning to them causing them to notice her face beginning to turn red, "I do not smell like embers!"

"You kind of do," Blake told her as she looked down to the ground seeing the battlefield getting further and further away. "Anyway, we should hurry down this path before we freeze to death."

* * *

The group snuck behind the enemy lines, keeping low in order to avoid attention as they crept around the dead bodies scattering around the field. Due to the cold temperatures, they could see the White Fang in many different camps scattered around the battlefield, which allowed them to pass easily between them. They collected enough masks, weapons, and then eventually a cloak, which Yang immediately put on to cover her armor.

"So, after I put this on, we can just walk into the White Fang base camp?" Yang asked as she wiped some blood from the inside of the mask. "No more sneaking around?"

"Well, we still might need to sneak around, but yeah," Blake told her as she reached up taking off the bow exposing her cat ears. "Though, we may need to use these weapons at once point. Who picked up the bow and arrows?"

"I did," Andrew said holding his bow in front of himself as Yang put on the mask and squinted trying to see properly through the mask's eye holes.

"Right, before we near the camp, you need to climb the trees and watch any scouts hiding in the trees that I will signal towards," Blake said to him as the group neared the forest line. "You kill any that appear to be signaling to others about us, or if any spot you. We need to do this as quietly as we can."

"Right," Andrew said as he began running towards the forest and started scaling the nearest tree.

"Alright, now then," Blake said as she looked over the others in the group seeing which weapons they took.

Patrick had picked up two daggers that still looked large in his hands. Maddison brandished a lightly longer katana than Blake had. Marcus carried a zweihander with a small wolf head on the pommel. Stephanie carried a spear made of a black metal. Carina carried a pair of kunai along with a short ninjato she kept on her belt. Pepper held a pair of curved longswords. Then finally Fjord carried a large axe that had a wolf head at the end with the blade coming out from the back of its head.

"Yang, Fjord, and Marcus should keep to the front," Blake said directing them, "Pepper, Maddison, and I will be in the middle, while everyone else stays in the back. If any get past our first line of attack, the middle will engage them and while they're distracted, the back people will go in for the easy kill."

"Right, but most importantly, we need to avoid conflict," Marcus told them as everyone got into position. "This is an assassination mission. I would prefer avoiding any conflict before we reach the main camp."

"As would I," Blake said to then as she gestured towards the forest. "Shall we?"

* * *

Shortly after the group entered the forest, Blake could hear a scout stationed in the trees. She then subtly motioned at him for Andrew to find. Moments later, they heard breaking branches, then the scout's body fell into the snow pile at the bottom of the tree.

They could see various camps around the area, each having the same theme of having a large fire with several White Fang members surrounding it, but none were the base due to the small size of each camp. Due to the thick tree line, the group could move freely through the forest searching for the base while Andrew took out several more scouts. Every once in a while, they could hear the sounds of grimm running through the forest, but none attacked.

After nearly an hour of searching, they could see the sky begin to change colors as dawn approached. Shortly after, they could see an open area with large tents surrounding a bonfire, which they immediately figured was the base camp.

"Ok, guys, prepare yourselves," Blake said as each person in the group readied their weapons.

They began walking forward, but as they neared the base camp, every member of the group could see a figure standing in front of the bonfire. Their blood froze as the could see who it was when they got close enough. Standing in front of the fire was Adam Taurus, arms crossed, with a large grin on his face as he watched everyone approach the camp.

He then raised one hand up before flicking it to the side. Immediately, several arrows fired off into the tree line shooting Andrew, causing the man to fall from the tree with several arrows sticking from his chest and neck.

He then turned his head staring directly at Blake from behind his mask causing the cat faunus to take a couple of steps back in terror. "Hello, my darling," he said as he began walking forward, resting his left hand on the hilt of his ninjato. Blake could immediately tell something was off with his weapon. The hilt glowed with each step Adam took and at the end of the sword's grip, she could see a small skull with elongated fangs and glowing eyes as a pommel. "I see you wasted no time in creating an assassination plot against me."

"A-Adam, you need to be stopped," Blake stuttered as she took a single step forward. "All you are doing is killing our people. You think attacking the Atlesian's will solve anything?"

"To kill a snake, you need to cut off its head," he said then looked to the deserters. "Traitors will be punished, but I will give you only one chance: re-join us and all will be forgiven, refuse and you will die." He then paused as he looked over to Blake. "This offer extends to you as well. Imagine what we could accomplish with you at my side once again. Since I took control of the White Fang, we can do whatever we want. We can create a better world for faunus, but first we must free our people."

Yang quickly looked over to her friend and could see she was struggling to speak. "I-I want to create a better world for our people," Blake managed to say before clenching her fist, "but not like this! You have gone mad with power Adam! All this is going to accomplish is the death of our kind. After you killed the queen, innocent faunus were killed for a bounty that the king put on White Fang members. Ordinary people feared their friends and neighbors, thinking that they might be killed next. You had the best intentions when we started all of this, but you are not the same man I once knew."

"Interesting speech, so then, I take it you decline?" he asked as he turned to the other deserters. "And what about you?"

"The White Fang has changed," Marcus said getting a few confirmative sounds from the others as he gripped his zweihander in front of himself, "it has become a fearmongering group instead of one that helps the faunus people. You must be stopped."

"I see," he said gripping his sword with his right hand. "Well then, if you are truly here to kill me, then I shall fight you. None of the White Fang will interfere. If you kill me, then the White Fang will leave peacefully. My word is my bond."

"Fine," Blake agreed.

Adam immediately bolted forward drawing his blade aiming for Marcus. It was suddenly stopped from being caught by Yang's hand. Gripping the sword tightly, she immediately snapped her fingers creating a small fireball in her free hand before throwing it at the bull faunus.

"A mage," he said pulling his sword from Yang's grip just in time to block the fireball as her hood flew back, "and a human… interesting. It has been a while since I fought a pyromancer." He quickly kicked forward causing her to stumble before he slashed at her abdomen only causing sparks to fly as metal scraped against metal. "An armored mage, something new."

"Shut up!" Yang shouted as she punched forward catching Adam's blade as he blocked throwing him back several feet.

As soon as he had some distance from them, Blake whipped her kusarigama wrapping around Adam's sword before she pulled it from his hands. Then Stephanie immediately jumped forward aiming her spear directly at his heart.

Everyone watched as Stephanie stopped mid-air. A moment later, Adam turned to reveal he redirected the spear while clutching her throat. He then threw her forward colliding with Fjord, throwing them both to the ground.

Cracking his knuckles, Adam walked forward, keeping an eye on Blake. Marcus let out a roar as he ran forward dragging the tip of his zweihander on the ground before swinging it at him. Without breaking his focus on Blake, Adam simply jumped, managing to dodge the large sword before delivering a kick to the wolf faunus's face shattering his mask.

Adam continued walking forward, tilting his head off to the side to avoid a slash from Pepper's longswords. He then thrusted his palm forward hitting her in the chest throwing her to the ground. Carina readied her kunai before striking at him, but Adam simply raised his hand catching her weapon and wrenching her weapon from her hand then kneeing her in the chest. He threw the kunai at Maddison stabbing into her shoulder causing her to fall backwards onto Patrick. Then, he raised his right thumb to his mouth biting it, drawing a few drops of blood.

Blake put her kusarigama behind her back as Adam walked forward beating the faunus she brought with. Then, she spun around before throwing the red sword off into the forest, but shortly after the sword left her hand, it stopped mid-air. Then it flew backwards allowing Adam to catch the weapon with his right hand. Blake watched as he sheathed his weapon, wiping some of his blood on the hilt as he prepared a focused strike.

She quickly gripped her katana hilt preparing to fight Adam. He then drew his sword lightly signaling to Blake he was about to attack, so she began drawing her sword. An instant later, their sword's collided as the two fighters stared each other down.

"Everyone, get back!" Blake shouted to the others as her sword began trembling. "I'm the only one who can fight him."

"Yeah, right!" Yang shouted as she leaped forward preparing to punch the bull faunus.

Adam quickly thrusted his sword staggering Blake backwards, then spun around slashing upwards redirecting Yang's punch. He then spun around again elbowing Yang in the chest with his left arm and using his sword hand to block Blake's immediate attack. After Blake's attack was blocked, she reached behind her back drawing her shortsword to swing her sword upwards.

Using his left hand, Adam gripped Yang's armor, then swung her around hitting Blake to the ground before throwing the blonde into the large bonfire. He then jumped back while sheathing his red sword. Suddenly, he felt a stinging sensation on his cheek. Reaching up, he wiped off some blood that seemed to be from a cut Blake somehow managed to give him.

"I'm not done with you, Taurus!" Yang shouted as she threw a large fireball at him, which he quickly cut in half in an instant before sheathing his weapon. Yang then walked out of the fire, eyes red, and hair glowing. "Come on!"

"You haven't seen anything, human!" Adam roared as he began running towards Yang.

"No!" Blake shouted as she began running at the bull faunus. Before he could strike Yang with his sword, Blake appeared in front of him, blocking his sword with both of her own. "I won't let you touch her!"

"A touching sentiment," a sultry voice said, breaking through the chaos causing everyone in the area to freeze. When they turned, they saw as a woman with black hair and amber eyes walked out from a large tent. They then saw that she was wearing a long red dress that faded to black at the bottom and had yellow accents. Then, everyone could see a black crystal imbedded into the center of her chest. "As much as I would like this spectacle to continue, we have a busy day ahead."

"Fall, this is not of your concern," Adam growled as he turned to the woman. "This is not part of your master plan," he turned to Blake and scowled, "This is personal."

"Fall? Cinder Fall?" Yang asked looking to the woman. "You're the Witch of the Wilds."

Cinder looked to Adam, completely ignoring Yang. "Taurus, the sun is rising. I believe it is time to enact the next portion of our plan."

"Hey, don't ignore me!" Yang shouted at her.

"We currently have an issue here," he said looking to Yang and Blake. "I cannot leave this be. I am honor bound to stay and fight."

"The strong do not concern themselves with the weak," Cinder said crossing her hands in front of herself as she turned to go back in the tent. "What is more important; taking down the Atlesian forces, or these insignificant insects."

"Hey!" Yang shouted as she slapped her hands together creating two fireballs which she threw at her landing on the tent.

Cinder simply looked at the fire burning her tent. "Chaos, huh." She then turned to look at Yang, then to Adam. "A change of plans. I will take care of this nuisance, myself. You should enact the next portion of our plan."

"But-"

"Now, Taurus," she interrupted him, her amber eyes beginning to glow.

"Very well," he said with a sigh drawing his sword before cutting his thumb on the blade. Blood soon began to flow onto the blade causing it to glow. Moments later, a large nevermore landed in the middle of the camp surprising everyone. "White Fang, we march!" he shouted mounting the nevermore. The White Fang forces in the area looked at Adam for a moment before beginning to march out as Adam's nevermore flew away.

"So," Cinder said as the yellow accents of her dress began to glow when she began walking towards the center of the camp, "the Chaos school of pyromancy. Tell me, did you learn the language of the demons through study, or did it come to you naturally?"

"What the hell are you taking about?" Yang asked her. "You're the Witch of the Wilds. You want to eat my sister's eyes."

"Your sister is the one with the silver eyes?" she asked her, then chuckled slightly. "So, that means she's here." Then she looked up at Yang, raising an eyebrow. "Though, you did not answer my first question. Is your understanding of the demon language natural, or learned?"

"I just know it. What does that have to do with anything?" she asked her, which caused the older woman to begin laughing manically. "What?"

"If what you are saying is true, then you have demon blood running through your veins," Cinder said confusing everyone in the area. "Then, your sister's silver eyes' magic will be more potent. I must have them."

"You're not touching Ruby!" Yang shouted as two fireballs appeared in her hands without having to slap them together. She then threw them directly at Cinder, which the older woman didn't even more from causing an explosion to occur with her in the center.

Everyone watched as Cinder simply walked out of the flames looking unimpressed. "So, your demonic blood must not be as potent," she remarked as she snapped her fingers causing all the fire in the area to immediately die out. "Disappointing. Well, at least the silver eyes will be worth it."

"You, are not, touching, MY SISTER!" Yang shouted as she lunged forward preparing to punch the witch. The older woman simply sidestepped causing Yang to fly past her.

Blake then drew her kusarigama preparing to attack Cinder. The woman saw this, so she raised her hand to catch the weighted dagger with ease. Blake watched as the woman melted the weapon in her hand causing the chain to fall to the ground.

"Blake, get back, your weapons can't withstand the heat," Yang told her as she pulled herself up to her feet getting into a fighting stance. "I'll handle her."

"So, you want to fight me alone, but we can't have your friends here attack me while I'm distracted," Cinder said looking to the group of faunus. She then snapped her fingers with a smirk before turning back to face Yang to catch the blonde's fist. "A fighter. Well, this is unique."

"Well, I can handle myself," Yang told her as she quickly pulled her hand free and sent off a series of punches at the woman's head. Taking a step to the side, Cinder managed to dodge the punch, which only managed to anger the brawler more.

"Let me guess, you believe that just because I don't have a weapon on me right now, I'm just a spellcaster, so I'm more ineffective at close combat?" Cinder asked her as she dodged another punch, but then she immediately spun around kicking the brawler in the jaw. "You're not the only fighting mage here." She then flicked her hands causing portals to appear in front of her hands. Reaching into the portals she pulled out two black steel scimitars in time to block Yang's next punch.

Near Blake and the White Fang deserters, a black circle formed on the ground and began misting. Suddenly, a black tendril shot out from the circle before it formed into a giant hand. Then it slammed onto the ground changing into a giant claw. Then the giant claw began pulling itself out of the circle causing a black mass to emerge. Several tendrils shot out before forming spikes on its back and a large mass slowly formed into what appeared into a head. After that, the mass shot out another large tendril on its side that formed a giant hand before turning into another claw.

As the figure rose from the circle, its body began forming more defined features. Its head grew larger and from its jaw, thick tusks began to grow, and an eye formed in the center of its head with two more eyes forming on each side. It's large claw arms started to form a type of stone armor with spikes sticking out from its elbows. All over its back, the spikes formed barbed points that stuck out in various directions leading to a large tail with two spikes sticking out from the end like swords. After its legs made it out of the black circle, everyone watched as the creature's skin turned red with black armor scattered across its body.

"You summoned a spirit?" Yang asked as she took a few steps back.

"Spirit?" Cinder asked then laughed for a second. "You think I would summon a spirit?"

"That's a demon?" Yang asked as she looked between the demon and Cinder. "You're possessed."

"Possession requires a weak spirit," Cinder sneered. "The Court Mage of Vale prides herself on the spirits she's formed a bond with, but what she does not know is that if you can speak the language of demons, you have power over them. This is my demon." She then laughed as the demon let out a roar before running at the White Fang deserters.

Cinder scraped her swords together coating them in red fire before running at Yang. The brawler barely had time to block the sword with her gauntlet causing it to be coated in flames for a second. Then Yang countered with a right hook that Cinder simply blocked with her sword before redirecting it to the side then slashing at Yang's abdomen causing the weapon to scrape against the armor.

As soon as Cinder's sword contacted Yang's armor, red flames consumed the blonde. Her barrier immediately flared up to absorb the damage for several seconds before her barrier shattered. Moments later, the flames died out as Yang stood there, having steam rise off her body, remaining motionless from the exposure to that much magic.

"It's not unlike a pyromancer to have fire resistance," Cinder commented as Yang's hand twitched as she began recovering. "Let's see how much of a resistance you have."

Cinder dropped her swords causing them to disappear before she slapped her hands together, coating them in red flames. Then she thrusted them forward, shooting a column of flames at the blonde. Before the fire could touch her, Yang clenched her fists before slamming them together. A bright, golden barrier formed around herself.

"Shut up!" Yang shouted as she began walking forward through the column of fire. Before she reached the witch, Yang slowly scraped her hands together coating her gauntlets in red flame. Then she punched Cinder's hands stopping the column of fire before she swung at her head.

Cinder quickly ducked under Yang's punch while snapping her fingers creating a fireball in her right hand. She then uppercutted Yang causing a large explosion under her chin throwing the blonde brawler back into a pine tree. After that, she created a large portal before reaching in and pulling out a black steel bow.

Just as Yang picked herself up from the ground by the tree, three arrows imbedded themselves at her feet. She was confused as she looked at the arrows, but then she saw the ground below them glow. A second later, three explosions destroyed the base of the tree causing it to fall onto the brawler.

* * *

"What the hell is that!?" Marcus shouted as he saw the demon roar at them.

"It's a demon!" Blake told them drawing her katana and shortsword as she began to circle the demon. "Marcus, Fjord, keep it busy! Everyone else, jump in when necessary! Everything has a weakness, we just need to find it!"

"Right!" Fjord shouted as he readied his axe before charging forward.

Marcus slammed his zweihander blade into the demon's armor only causing it to bounce off. Fjord jumped in stabbing his axe into the demon's skin drawing the creature's attention. As soon as blood came out of the demon's wound, it immediately turned into a black gas that flew into Fjord's face.

The demon turned and swatted Fjord off to the side. Coughing into his hand as he picked himself up, he saw that his hand was covered in blood that was slowly turning black. "What the hell?" he asked himself as he looked at his arms seeing his veins were turning black. His body felt like it was burning while his vision began to blur. "Something is wrong. Stay away from the black gas from its wounds. It feels like some kind of poison, don't breathe it in."

"Cover your mouth and nose," Blake told them as she pulled her cloth mask up. Then she jumped onto the demon's back, using its spikes as platforms to jump further on allowing her to get closer to its head. She leapt over the demon's head using her katana to strike it effectively distracting the demon from attack Marcus. "I'll handle it for now. Get something to cover your faces."

As Marcus pulled back, the demon swung at Blake. She quickly dived into a roll under its massive claw before slashing its unprotected wrist with her shortsword causing more gas to flow from its wounds. After recovering from her roll, she had to immediately jump to dodge the demon's tail. It then used its other arm to backhand Blake, so she fell to her knees before stabbing its arm with her shortsword.

She held on to the weapon causing her to swing around. Then she let go before reaching to her kusarigama, throwing the sickle end while holding onto the remaining chain. The weapon stabbed into the demon's wrist. Landing on the ground, she immediately dived between its tail and leg before jumping upwards over its shoulder to land on the spikes on its back. She then used the remaining length of chain to tangle in between the creature's spikes.

Blake jumped off the demon's back next to its arm and retrieved her shortsword before getting some distance between her and the demon. She turned and watched as the demon struggled with the chain for a second before shattering it, freeing itself almost instantly.

"Well, I guess that trick would only work once," she remarked remembering the similar tactic she used on the statue guardian. "At least it didn't throw me through a pillar."

It was at that moment, the others returned to the battle, most of them wearing scraps of cloth around their mouth and nose, except for Marcus and Pepper who were wearing strips of the White Fang flag. Fjord wasn't wearing a mask since he was already infected, but he managed to get on his feet. She then heard the sound of an explosion behind her in Yang's fight, but she couldn't lose focus at the task at hand.

The creature let out a terrifying roar as it turned to focus on Blake. "Hey, ugly, over here!" Marcus shouted as he jumped in the air going for a downwards strike against the beast, slicing through several spikes on its back that only managed to anger the creature more.

Carina drew her short ninjato as she and Patrick jumped on the monster's back, climbing up while it was busy with the others. Pepper ran directly into it slashing at its unarmored chest while Stephanie jumped in stabbing into its shoulder with her spear before jumping back. While the demon swung one arm at Marcus, Fjord ran past Pepper stabbing his axe into the demon's knee. Maddison ran to the other side using her katana to slash at the demon's other leg.

Blake rushed in past Maddison, using her shortsword to slash under the demon's arm before spinning around slashing its chest with her katana. She then had to grab Pepper by the waist before pulling her away from the demon pulling his arm in to attack the close fighters.

The demon then roared again as it spun around knocking people on the ground close to it away. On its shoulders, Patrick and Carina began stabbing its exposed skin. The demon reached up with one arm towards the two, aiming towards Patrick. Carina noticed this and quickly pushed Patrick off the demon before trying to follow, but the demon caught her right leg at the last second. It began pulling her off, so Carina stabbed her ninjato into its back holding on, but then she lost her grip on the weapon causing the demon to hold her in front of herself.

She watched in terror as the demon looked her over. It then tilted its head to the side before shooting forward biting down on her leg. She immediately screamed as she felt the demon's jaws closed, biting directly through bone. Her body fell to the ground, and while the demon was eating the rest of her leg, she started pulling herself away. Patrick ran over to Carina, pulling one arm over his shoulder before dragging her away.

The demon dropped Carina's foot after it finished biting off what it wanted to eat. Then, it turned to Carina and Patrick, taking a couple small steps towards them. Pepper jumped in, slashing at its legs as Marcus dragged his zweihander across the ground and slashed its other leg cutting deep causing the demon to fall to one knee.

It let out a growl as it looked to the nearest deserter, catching a glimpse of Maddison and roaring. Shooting out its arm faster than the others had seen, the demon grasped her torso pinning her arms to her sides. It then raised her above its head before slamming her into the ground in front of it causing the raccoon faunus to let out a pained scream as her mask slipped off.

Everyone watched as the demon took a deep breath while its neck began to glow a dark red. Then it leaned down, head hovering above Maddison before letting out a roar. As the creature roared, black smoke shot out of its mouth drowning out Maddison's cries. Moments later, the demon stopped roaring causing the smoke to dissipate. Everyone could see Maddison laying there, most of her face melted down to her skull, leaving bits of flesh in small patches.

* * *

"Disappointing," Cinder said letting go of her bow causing it to disappear as she watched the tree fall further into the ground. "I thought someone with demon blood would be more of a challenge. Especially if they had Chaos magic." She turned around and saw her demon breathing poison onto one of the faunus it pinned to the ground. "Now, to kill the rest of these insects."

"Hey!" she heard someone shout from behind her. As she turned around, Cinder saw Yang standing in the inferno, holding the tree above her head. "Don't underestimate me!"

Yang moved the tree to her side before she started to drag it across the ground towards the witch. Cinder didn't have any time to react before the large tree collided with her damaging her barrier and throwing her into the forest. She took a second to recover just as Yang through the pine tree directly at her like a javelin.

She then slapped her hands together before thrusting them forward shooting a column of fire at the tree. The intense flames burned through the tree, turning it into embers before it could hit her. Moments later, she burned through the base of the tree meaning she was safe.

Just as she took a breath, Yang leaped through the smoke punching Cinder in the chest causing her barrier to absorb the damage as she was thrown through the tree and into the ground. She could see as Yang started to leap again, her red eyes glowing as they locked onto the witch.

Cinder suddenly felt fear as Yang neared her, but she quickly snapped her fingers causing several portals to appear around the forest. In an instant, black steel chains shot from the portals wrapping around Yang and several trees. She then watched as Yang realized she was suddenly immobilized.

"I never thought I would have to use that trick in a long time," Cinder remarked as she picked herself off the ground. "But now you are trapped. I can do whatever I want to you."

"Fuck you!" Yang shouted then spat at her, which the witch dodged easily. She then saw as Yang's spit hit the grass igniting it.

"I will admit, you intrigue me," she said reaching one hand up to caress Yang's cheek. "Maybe I won't kill you. After all, I could always use a person with demon blood on my side."

"Fuck off! I will never work with you!" Yang yelled as she turned her head to bite Cinder's hand, only to bit on her barrier.

"You don't seem to understand," she said as her eyes began to glow, "You don't have a choice." She took her hand back before punching Yang with enough force to shatter what remained as her barrier. "If you won't come willingly, then you must be broken." She gripped a large portion of Yang's hair before pulling her head up to face her. "Once you are broken, I can put you back together as I please."

"I would rather die," Yang told her as she spat again, this time hitting her in the face, slightly burning through her barrier.

"Of course, some obedience will need to be taught," she told her as she wiped the spit from her cheek. Immediately, she spun around kicking Yang in the face, cutting part of her cheek. "Of course, this will need to happen later. I have some things I need to do first."

"Eat shit and die."

"After I take care of you, I will make my way to Fort Atlas. The royal family will die, your friend included. Your friends on the battlefield will surely be slaughtered, unless they are already dead now. I know Adam would be interested in your feline friend, maybe I'll give her to him to be his plaything," Cinder told her as Yang's eyes blinked back to their original color from shock. "You, of course, will become my pet. You're just a wild animal, waiting to be tamed." She then paused before looking down into Yang's eyes. "Your sister, well, I have my plans for her. I will eat her eyes, but I think I will take my time with her," she told her, causing Yang's eyes to shift back to red. "She will be kept alive, of course. Silver eyes are their best when they are fresh. Maybe after I eat her eyes, I'll break her too." Yang immediately started to struggle against her chains. "From what I've heard, she is a skilled fighter, though, she doesn't kill. Given the right… motivation, we can rectify that."

"You will not touch her!" Yang roared as the chains holding her arms started to strain.

"I think I hit a nerve," Cinder smiled as she watched Yang struggle against the chains. She snapped her fingers again causing several more chains to appear restraining the brawler's arms even more. "You care deeply for your sister. Before I break you, I will make you watch as I eat her eyes, becoming more powerful than you can possibly imagine. Then after I make you my pet, I'll have you kill her yourself once I am bored of her."

"NOOOOO!" Yang yelled as she started pulling her arms closer to herself, chains shattering as she continued to yell. Eventually, her yell turned into a loud, thundering roar. Her pupils turned into slits while growing a set of fangs. Then her hair began to ignite as she started to melt through some of the chains.

"Well, this is interesting," Cinder remarked as she watched Yang's transformation. "So, this is what demon blood can do." She then snapped her fingers causing her barrier to reform around herself. Then she slapped her hands together before firing off a column of flame at the brawler.

Yang let out another roar as she broke through the chains holding her. As she landed on the ground, Yang instantly bolted forward through the fire delivering a powerful punch to Cinder's solar plexus that, despite the barrier, knocked the wind out of her. She then followed through with the punch, throwing the witch through several large trees.

She then created an explosion under her feet propelling her at the witch. She delivered an uppercut throwing Cinder up into the tree. After that, she created a fireball in her hand before punching the base of the tree causing it to explode. Yang watched as the tree fell to the ground, breathing heavily as flames shot out of her mouth with each breath.

Moments later, the tree exploded and Cinder walked through the inferno, brandishing her scimitars, coating them in flames. "Finally! I see the power of the demon blood!" Cinder yelled as she walked towards Yang, leaving a trail of flaming footprints behind her.

* * *

"I think I'm going to be sick," Fjord said falling to one knee while coughing. A moment later he began vomiting a black ooze that stayed on the ground for a moment before slowly turning into a black gas.

"Fjord, can you still fight, or do you need to leave?" Stephanie asked running to his side while the demon was distracted eating Maddison's corpse. "We can handle this."

"No, no, I can still fight," he said picking himself up wiping some ooze from the side of his mouth. "I'm already dead, I know it."

"Guys, we need a better strategy," Blake told them as she and the others regrouped around Fjord. "Ideas?"

"Patrick is taking care of Carina, and Andrew and Maddison are dead," Marcus said readying his zweihander in front of himself. "It's heavily armored, but its chest is exposed. I don't know where its vital points are, but I'm thinking neck and chest like other animals."

"I can distract it," Fjord told them getting their attention. "Maybe while I draw its attention, Marcus can disable its arms with his weapon. Then Pepper and Blake can rush in to attack its chest. Then Stephanie can try to impale its neck."

"It's better than nothing, let's do this," Blake said as the group turned to the demon that was turning its attention away from its meal.

The demon let out a roar as it threw what remained of Maddison's body to the side before running at the group. Blake, Stephanie, and Pepper immediately bolted off to the sides while Fjord and Marcus stood ready. Marcus ducked under the demon's massive arm, then countered by swinging his zweihander upwards, cutting the inside of its elbow.

Fjord braced himself in time to block the arm with his body. He then stabbed the creature's wrist and grabbed Blake's kusarigama that was still imbedded in its arm. Pulling out the sickle, he moved forward to stab the demon's chest, getting a face full of poison gas. Ignoring the gas, he continued to attack the beast, getting a few more strikes in.

Blake ran in and stabbed the demon in the chest with her shortsword before taking the blade out and spinning around, slashing it with her katana. She jumped back for a second before lunging forward, striking both of the demon's legs causing it to roar in pain.

The demon looked around at the others as it fell to its knees. Then it spotted Stephanie preparing to strike it with her spear. It curled its long tail before immediately shooting forward impaling her through the chest.

Marcus was on the side of the demon and watched as it killed his teammate. Bringing his zweihander behind himself, he swung upwards following through the swing to deliver a blow to the demon's long tail. The armor cracked for a second before the force behind the blade broke through cutting off the creature's tail.

The demon let out a loud, thundering roar as it turned to face Marcus. It prepared another breath attack, but before it opened its mouth fully, Fjord ran in front of it delivering an upwards slash with his axe to the underside of its jaw forcing it to close. He then jumped up stabbing the kusarigama into the demon's neck, which caused it to roar in pain again. After it recovered, the demon looked at Fjord with a killing intent.

He quickly turned around to kick Marcus back just in time to avoid the creature's claws. The demon managed to pick up Fjord, pinning his arms to his side. It then used it other massive hand to grasp his legs as it raised him above its head. With one angry roar, the demon's arms shot to its side, each hand holding a half of the elk faunus.

"Bastard!" Pepper shouted as she ran at the demon with her longswords ready. It turned to face her just in time to see the tiger faunus jumping directly at its head. She managed to stab each of her swords into one of its eyes. Ignoring the roar in pain, she pulled out her swords before stabbing another pair of its eyes leaving the one in the center of its head.

Before she could attack the final eye, the demon's arm shot up grabbing her. Ripping her off its head, the demon held her in front of itself before running forward. It then turned her to face where they were going just in time for her to see the large tree. She let out a small scream, but then it slammed her body into the massive tree. It held her there for a second before letting go and watching as her body fell to the ground leave a large trail of blood on the tree.

"Blake, it's just you and me. What are we going to do?" Marcus asked as he turned to her, showing her fear that she didn't expect from the wolf faunus.

"I-I don't know. Nothing we do seems to affect it," Blake said as the demon turned to face them. She then saw the kusarigama still embedded in its neck. "Marcus, it only has one eye left, keep it focused on you. I have one last idea."

"Ok, I hope it works," he said as he began walking forward. "Hey, over here, ugly!" he yelled as he swung his greatsword in front of himself hoping the sunlight will reflect off the blade. "Come on! It's just me left! Finish the job!"

"I hope this works too," Blake said under her breath as she darted to the side.

The demon focused all its attention towards the wolf faunus, getting increasingly angry each time the light flashed its eye. Letting out a roar, the demon began running towards him. Just before it reached the man, it jumped in the air, raising both arms above its head to attack. Marcus quickly braced himself as he held the blade in front of himself, pressing one hand on the flat side of the blade before the two massive arms collided with the weapon. The demon began taking a deep breath as it prepared another breath attack.

Blake immediately jumped up, landing on the demon's shoulders. She took her shortsword and stabbed it into the demon's neck down to the hilt before pushing it to the side, cutting nearly half of its neck open causing black smoke to billow out of the wound in front of Marcus. Letting go of her weapon, Blake then grasped her kusarigama sickle with both hands before pulling back cutting another portion of its neck open. Jumping up in the air, she grasped the hilt of her katana. Just before she landed on its back again, she drew her weapon and in a split second, she cut through the remaining flesh before crashing into its head throwing it to the ground.

Both Blake and Marcus watched as the demon's head faded away. Then they looked up and watched its body slowly fade until nothing was in the clearing with them.

"Ok, so, poison demons can be killed by decapitation," Blake said with a sigh as the two fell backwards, landing on the ground.

"This was a mistake," Marcus said, his voice choking with each word. "We failed. We didn't stop Adam, and the people I came to protect were killed." Blake looked in his direction to see him put his hand over his eyes. "This is all my fault."

Blake was silent for a moment before getting his attention. "No, it's not," she said to him, "This is my fault. I was the one who suggested that we get you guys. If it wasn't for me, all of you would be fine." The looked around seeing the bodies around the camp. "Their blood is on my hands."

"Hey! Are you guys all right?!" a voice called out from the tree line causing the two to look at the source. They could see Carina standing on her remaining leg, leaning heavily on Patrick.

"You shouldn't be standing," Patrick told her as he helped her walk to the two. "We need to get you to a medic, soon."

"I should be fine for now, I'm not bleeding anymore, thanks to you," she said gesturing to the bandaged stub that used to be her right leg. "We managed to find a White Fang Alchemist's tent and found some potions. I have some to numb the pain, but we found components for a possible antidote."

"That won't be necessary," Marcus said, looking to them as Blake clenched her teeth while moving her hands up to cover her eyes.

"What are you talking about? Where are the others?"

Marcus paused for a second before continuing. "We're the only ones left."

* * *

Yang leapt forward, arm cocked, preparing to punch the witch. Cinder swung her sword upwards to redirect Yang's fist, then slashed her across the chest scratching the armor. Then she kneed her in the chest causing an explosion throwing the brawler back.

She jumped forward again preparing to strike, but Cinder scraped her swords against each other before ducking under the brawler's fist immediately striking her chest. Yang was consumed in flames again, but before the fire could break her barrier, Yang lifted her arms above her head before slamming them down on Cinder's exposed back throwing her into the ground.

"Lucky shot," Cinder told her before rolling away from Yang's follow up downward punch. Letting go of her swords, she quickly snapped her fingers creating fireballs in her hands. She slammed her hands into the ground causing an explosion that threw her back to her feet. Then she flicked her hand creating a portal that caused a black steel spear to fall into her hand.

Cinder then scraped her hand across the tip of the spear causing the entire thing to be covered in flames. She held it back for a second causing the flames to grow into a raging inferno. Then she threw the spear directly at the brawler that was now charging at her.

Yang continued to run directly at her, ignoring the spear aimed directly at her chest. Before the weapon collided with her, Yang moved to the side for a second before grabbing the spear from the air. She placed one foot on the ground before pivoting as she put all her strength into throwing the weapon directly at its owner.

Cinder had barely any time to react before the weapon collided with her chest and shattered from the impact with her barrier. As she recovered from the attack, she watched as Yang came within punching distance of the witch. She quickly slapped her hands together before grabbing Yang's chestplate.

Yang punched Cinder in the head throwing her into the ground, but was immediately pulled to the ground with her. Cinder then focused her magic into her hands creating a column of flames at point-blank range. Yang's armor began heating up, but was fine due to the metal it was made of. Then the leather straps holding the armor together began to burn away causing the various parts of her chestpiece to fall to the ground.

Cinder immediately curled up before kicking Yang off her. Then she stood up summoning a bow before firing off a single arrow that struck Yang's right shoulder. The arrow broke through what remained of Yang's barrier before piercing through the chainmail hitting the flesh underneath piercing through her entire shoulder.

Before Yang could get back up to attack again, Cinder fired off another arrow that pierced through her other shoulder. At that point, Yang started to feel the pain from the arrows causing her eyes to blink back to their natural lilac color.

She watched as the witch notched another arrow aiming it at her head. Just as Cinder fired off another arrow, Yang watched as a black and red portal opened right in front of her before there was a loud crash. As the portal closed, Yang could see a woman standing in front of her with black hair wearing a set of black and red armor.

Cinder dropped her bow at the sight of the woman, taking a couple of steps back in surprise. The woman then bolted forward striking Cinder with her long red sword causing the witch's barrier to immediately break. Before the woman could strike again, Cinder created a fireball to hit the ground in front of them both and when the smoke cleared, Cinder was gone.

Yang's vision began to blur as she watched the woman sheathe her sword and pick up Yang's steaming chestpieces. Shortly after her eyes closed, Yang felt like she was falling before the woman caught her. She then felt as she was being picked up and slung over the woman's shoulder.

She forced her eyes open to catch a glimpse of her savior seeing a face she only remembered from sketches. "Mom?" she asked before she fainted.

* * *

Yang's eyes opened before she shot up looking around for her mother. She then noticed that she was in a building that she didn't recognize. Before she could panic, she felt a hand being placed on her shoulder. When she looked at who it belonged to, she saw Blake sitting there with a few bandages over her body.

"Blake, what happened?" Yang asked as she looked around. "Where are we?"

"We're back at Fort Mantle," Blake told her as she looked at Marcus, Carina, and Patrick. "We managed to defeat the demon, but a lot of us died. After we finished beating it, a woman wearing black and red armor came from the forest carrying you. She opened up a portal and told us to follow her, and she dropped us off here."

"We're back at Fort Mantle? What about the battle?"

Before Blake could respond, there was a loud explosion outside that caused the structure to shake for a moment. "A lot has happened."

* * *

 **Ok, so I covered a lot in this chapter. First in foremost, Yang and Blake failed their mission, and people died. Then we got to Yang's demon blood.**

 **So, for Yang's demon blood, I figured I had to come up with an explanation for her being able to read the demon language, and since Yang wouldn't be one to learn a language.**

 **Then we get to Ruby's eyes. Cinder believes that since Yang referred to Ruby as her sister, Ruby would also have the demon blood, so I had to figure out something for that. Then I guess that since demons are magic, the magic would add to her eyes' magic. Then it would only apply to her if the Branwens are the ones with demon blood or if it was Taiyang with it.**

 **I introduced several characters, then killed them. I honestly don't regret it since, they're OCs and the fact that this mission wasn't going to go smoothly.**

 **The poison demon was fun to create. I kinda thought about a mix between a gorilla, boar, turtle, and scorpion. Originally, I wanted to make her demon a fire demon, but then I figured that poison fit Cinder almost as much as fire.**

 **Anyway, what happened after Adam left, and where did Cinder go? Well, we'll find out in the next chapter.**

 **Speaking of the next chapter, I'll be making it longer, so the chapter may not come out for a while.**

 **I'm incredibly tired right now, so I'll be signing off as soon as I post this.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	62. Heart of a Warrior

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A, and I am FINALLY back with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. I kinda just realized that it has been over a month between posting chapters. So yeah, I have been busy with school since it started up after the last chapter. I started writing this chapter partway through September, but then I had to stop for a while because tests were coming up. THEN when I came back to writing, I didn't like what I had for the chapter, so I deleted most of it, keeping very little from what I had, then started writing from there. So there are several writing styles of Van in here, like two versions of Rusty Van, a Tired Van, and even some Sick Van. So this chapter might be a bit... over the place. I may go back and tweak this chapter a bit over the next few days.**

 **Anyway, we get to focus on... *drum roll***

 **Team JNPR!**

 **Yes, the group that I have the most trouble writing fight scenes for, so I usually avoid them, but I wasn't going to move directly to Ruby and weiss since their stuff is for the climax of this arc. Speaking of Arcs... well, I won't spoil anything.**

 **Reviews:**

 **Tosaki: Well the deserters weren't exactly dead weight, at the least they were cannon fodder. One of the main points of the last chapter was to hammer in the fact that Yang and Blake aren't the greatest fighters and that people die if you mess up. It will actually affect both of their decision making in the future since they will have the lingering thought of, 'What if I get everyone killed again?'**

 **(Sassy?) Guest: I did think Cinder was a bit off in the last chapter, so I went back and tweaked her a bit, so instead of making Yang appear to have a choice, the point was driven in that Cinder was going to make Yang her slave. Weiss _kinda_ has a Devil Trigger, like the magic surge from the warehouse, but it's not the literal 'Devil' trigger Yang has. Fun Fact: Yang's raging in the forest wasn't a magic surge, so when that happens, imagine the carnage.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: I hope to include the parents more in future chapters. I already have an arc planned around Yang and Raven. Marcus is not going to work with Ironwood, I can tell you that already. He has his own epilogue planned, he's one of my OCs I really like.**

 **Nakfyre: I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're referring to as a Dark Souls reference. If you were thinking of the demon, I made it up myself because I was like, 'what if I had a crossbreed of a gorilla, tortoise, scorpion, and porcupine that spit poison?' Cinder isn't exactly Gilgamesh. She can summon certain weapons, but only two swords at a time, or the one spear. She doesn't have any telekinetic control over them, but she can summon more if they break. The chains were a bit overpowered, I'll admit that.**

 **IKatInBlack: What? Seriously, what does TUDTUDTUDTUDTUD TUTUTU mean? If anyone has any ideas, I'd like to hear it.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

" _Jaune, wake up," a voice commanded causing the Arc to bolt upwards from his bed to a sitting position. Looking around, he could see that he was back in his room at his family's house. He then looked towards the door to his room and saw his father standing in the doorway staring at him. "Come with me, I have something to show you."_

" _R-right, coming," he said jumping out of his bed, pulling on a shirt before following the taller blonde down the hallway. As soon as he entered the large stone hall, Jaune immediately noticed that it was too quiet. "Dad, where is everyone?"_

" _Well, your mother went to town for the day to prepare for your going away party, and your sisters demanded to go with. So, we have the house to ourselves for most of the day," the man explained as he walked to a set of large oak doors. "This is good since I wanted to talk with you alone, before you left."_

" _What are you talking about?" he asked as his father opened the large doors to reveal the private study that only his parents were allowed to enter. "If you're trying to talk me into becoming a trader, you'll be wasting your time."_

" _I'm not going to speak about any of that, come," he said motioning for him to follow. "I know your heart is set on becoming a bard, so I won't try to change your mind." As Jaune entered the study, he noticed several oil paintings of members of the Arc family, leading up four generations to his great-great-grandfather. Underneath the last painting was what could be described as a simple sword and shield, each having the Arc family's symbol on them. "Crocea Mors, the sword and shield that your great-great-grandfather wielded in battle during the Great War, earning him the name, 'The White Dragon of War,' and giving the Arc family nobility status."_

" _I know, dad, before he was a war hero, he was a simple trader that joined the war on his own volition. You've told me this story before when you tried to convince me to become a trader," Jaune said as he walked over to the weapons._

" _Yes, but I've never told the entire truth of that story," he said, walking over to place a hand on the broad side of the shield. "Our ancestor never wanted to become a soldier, rather, he wished to remain a simple trader and live his life. After travelling the kingdom and learning of the atrocities that were happening to his homeland, he vowed to do what he could to end the war in order to protect everyone."_

" _Dad, what does this have to do anything?"_

* * *

"Wake up!" an angry voice shouted, startling Jaune forcing him to jump off the ground of the open field. Looking around, he saw Nora already awake and attempting to wake up Ren, and Pyrrha adjusting her armor after it had slipped slightly overnight. When he turned around, he saw white hair and then the glowing green eyes of Logan looking directly at him. Behind him was a calm-looking Erdin, sharping his spear while humming to himself.

Erdin sighed before he placed a hand on Logan's shoulder causing the angry man to look away from the bard and to the spearman. "I don't think it would be a good idea to shout our location to the enemy."

"Like that matters now, we are surrounded, pressed against the walls of our own fortress. The enemy knows where we are."

"But _you_ are the one who can summon a storm with his voice. The enemy might figure out that the knight who can _shout_ a storm into existence, would probably be the one who shouts the most," Erdin countered causing the man to incoherently sputter some words before turning around and letting out a long groan.

"So, why did you wake us up?" Ren asked as he sat up while rubbing his eyes.

"There's smoke rising from the forest, and the White Fang forces are moving onto the field," Erdin calmly explained, aiming the tip of his spear at the smoke. "We have received orders from Commander Ironwood to prepare for battle and a possible retreat into the fortress."

"Right," he replied as he secured his bracers over his wrists before drawing his daggers.

As everyone was preparing to fight, they suddenly heard a series of echoing howls and roars coming from the forest causing everyone to turn to the tree line. The smoke behind the trees began to grow just as an army of grimm exited the forest, consisting mostly of beowolves and ursai with a few grimm from other species. There was a silent pause for a moment before the powerful sounds of wings beating filled the air as a large nevermore flew out of the forest with a man wielding a red sword riding on its back. Moments later, several more nevermores flew out of the forest casting shadows on the Atlesian army.

After the nevermores made their appearance, the grimm let out various roars before they began charging towards the front lines. The White Fang joined in the charge shortly after, heading towards the spiked barricades.

"We need to stop them," Jaune said gripping his shield tightly as the White Fang forces began moving the barricades while avoiding a rain of arrows. "Logan, your shout can summon lightning, now would be a good time."

"You think I don't know that," Logan told him while taking a deep breath. "Strun, BAH QO!" His voice echoed around the battlefield causing clouds to form above the area. Immediately, a lightning bolt shot down from the sky striking an iron golem before it punched an ursa.

"Logan, come with me, we'll need to be in position to counter their charge," Erdin said catching Logan before he fell to his knees. He then turned to the others. "You guys stay here and fight the enemy before it has a chance to take over this area."

"Right, we'll handle these guys," Pyrrha said getting into a fighting stance facing the opposing army.

"Good luck," he replied as he began taking Logan towards the center of the Atlesian army.

"So, what's the plan?" Ren asked them as they watched the nearest iron golem being torn apart by beowolves while ursai held its arms and legs in their jaws.

Jaune stepped forward, keeping his shield in front of himself. "Pyrrha, Ren, you two are on attack," he said looking to them before facing Nora. "You need to get struck by as much lightning as you can, then use that stored energy to attack. I'll be on defense, holding the enemy back as much as I can."

In front of them, a beowolf looked directly at Jaune's shield before letting out a howl. It began charging forward, breaking through lines of Atlesian soldiers to head directly towards them. Pyrrha jumped in before it could reach Jaune and slashed at its chest. Then she shield-bashed its head causing it to stagger for a second before cutting through its neck with her sword. Several beowolves from behind the barricade saw this and let out a series of howls before charging through the lines of soldiers.

Just as the first beowolf reached the four of them, Nora delivered an uppercut to the grimm throwing it into the air. Two beowolves ran past her, but Pyrrha intercepted them, stabbing the first creature in its throat before pulling out her sword slicing the second one's neck open. Ren bolted past Pyrrha and jumping at the next beowolf, stabbing it in both eyes.

While the three were distracted by the beowolves, Jaune noticed that an ursa was charging him from the side at a distance away. It was then he noticed that the White Fang had been taking over more of the side of the field and soon they would be fighting on multiple sides. Planting one foot on the ground behind him and raising his shield, he felt as the grimm's claw collided with the barrier between them pushing him back several feet.

Before the ursa could attack him again, Jaune watched as a crossbow bolt briefly pierced into its head before the grimm was violently thrown to the ground. He was confused for a moment before he turned around and saw a bright red figure on the wall and assumed it was Ruby.

Turning back around, he had just enough time to block a beowolf's claw. He quickly slashed at the grimm's chest leaving a deep cut, but not killing the beast. It roared at him for a moment before pouncing, knocking the bard to the ground forcing him to drop his sword. He raised his shield in time to block one of the claws, but the other one caught his right arm leaving three deep claw marks behind.

He reached for his sword trying to fight off the grimm, but before it could attack him again, the beowolf stiffened up before falling limp on Jaune. He was trapped under the grimm for a moment before it was pushed off him.

"Are you alright?" Pyrrha asked as she helped him to his feet.

"My arm hurts, but I should be fine," he said picking up his sword and looking to the beowolf that was now turning to ash. He then turned to the front line and noticed a headless nevermore fall from the sky crashing into metal barricades. It was then he noticed black skeletal figure covered in mist floating towards an iron golem. "Oh no."

"What?"

"Ren, Nora, we have a geist!" Jaune shouted as he and Pyrrha ran to the two just as the geist flew into the golem, covering its face with a bone mask. "It just possessed an iron golem."

"How can we beat that thing, even Yang and Blake couldn't scratch one," Nora said as the four of them looked at the possessed golem.

"We'll think of something," Ren said as the possessed golem turned to them and let out a roar before charging at them. "Though, sooner is better than later."

The possessed golem reached the four and shot one arm forward in a punch directed at Ren, but Pyrrha managed to intercept the punch and block it with her shield. She was thrown back revealing to Jaune that her shield was dented from the impact. It then swung at Ren again, but he quickly rolled under the massive fist causing it to hit the ground. Nora then used her hammer to hit its elbow breaking off its forearm. It was about to swing at her with its other arm, but Jaune ran to it with his shield up, blocking the fist and throwing him back several feet.

"Nora, the mask!" Jaune shouted as he was being thrown.

She nodded in confirmation before leaping forward in the air. Nora pivoted with her body while she swung her hammer at its head, shattering the mask. From the impact, the hammer knocked off the golem's head, throwing it into the White Fang army.

"How did you know that would work?" Nora asked Jaune as the four regrouped.

"The mask was the only part of the grimm that was visible. I guessed," he told her as they watched several White Fang members tear through a small group of Atlesian soldiers. They turned to the side of the battlefield and saw that the White Fang was gaining more ground, but the soldiers and golems were holding them back enough to give the four a chance to catch their breath. Taking a few steps back, they prepared their weapons to fight. "Now might be a good time to start making our way back to the gate."

"Jaune, stay behind me," Pyrrha said stepping in front of him with her dented shield in her hands. "You're injured, so it wouldn't be a good idea to have you in the front."

"It's just a scratch," he said as he glanced at his arm, grimacing slightly at the sight. "I'll be fine."

"Jaune, out of all of us here, you're the one with the least amount of fighting experience," she told him as she paused to let that sink in. "Don't worry, I'll protect you."

"Actually," Ren interjected before Jaune could respond, "Nora actually has the least amount of fighting experience. I also didn't have many situations to fight, but I was trained to."

"Thank you," Jaune said as he took a few steps forward, "I wasn't properly trained to be a knight, but I did get a few lesson-"

"But," Ren interrupted again causing Jaune to stop moving, "you are injured. Nora and I might be better off in the front because I can dodge and Nora has her magic hammer."

"Sometimes it talks to me," Nora interjected nonchalantly before turning to the others. "Is that weird?"

"I am just going to guess that it is because of the magic, but we can't focus on that right now. Right now, Pyrrha, we need to be in front," Jaune said gesturing to a group of grimm that allowed White Fang archers to ride of their backs. He looked to Pyrrha exchanging nods for a second before he moved in front of Nora and she moved in front of Ren, both with their shields up.

The grimm riders were taking out soldiers at a distance and allowing their beasts to kill any knights that came close. With the golem that was protecting their area dead, the grimw riders charged through with three heading in their direction. The pack leader shot off an arrow that imbedded itself in Pyrrha's shield. Another rider fired off an arrow that bounced off Jaune's shield, not even leaving a scratch.

When the grimm riders came too close, Nora jumped over Jaune and swung her hammer, colliding with the grimm rider's ursa throwing them both to the ground. Ren dashed around Pyrrha before leaping onto the nearby beowolf and stabbing the rider in the neck, which Pyrrha followed up shortly after by decapitating the grimm.

Ren leapt from the body of the beowolf, landing on the downed rider and stabbing him in the heart. Jaune was about to attack the ursa before it could stand up, but the next grimm rider was closing in. He ran forward just in time to block another arrow that was aimed at Nora while she slammed her hammer on the head of the ursa. When the rider came close to Jaune, he dropped his bow before pulling out an axe leaping at Jaune. He tried to take a step back to avoid the man, but Jaune tripped letting go of his shield slightly.

As he landed on the ground, Jaune expected to be attacked, but he opened his eyes and was face-to-face with a shocked grimm rider. They both then looked down and saw that the pointed base of Jaune's shield was imbedded in the man's abdomen. The man then let out a small growl and motioned like he was going to attack him, so Jaune quickly threw him off to the side before standing up and backing away. He then watched as the man looked panicked for a moment and started to crawl away for only a few feet before he stopped moving.

Jaune took a moment to get his bearings before finding the others. As he reached them, he suddenly heard what sounded like a war horn echoing throughout the field. Moments later, he noticed that many Atlesian soldiers began heading into the gate of the fortress.

"Guys, Commander Ironwood issued a retreat," he said confusing them for a second before they turned around to see what he saw. "We need to go."

"He's right, there's only a few iron golems left on the field, and some soldiers are holding the White Fang back in spots, so this is our best chance to get there if we run," Ren said as they began making their way over the dead bodies near them. Moments later, they neared the gates and were surprised by the lack of soldiers pouring in through the gates, allowing them to easily get back into the fortress.

"Hey, you four, come here," they heard a voice say from the side of the entrance after they entered the gates. They turned to the side and noticed Logan and Erdin standing there leaning against the wall. Erdin was holding a cloth against his chest that was largely stained red, and Logan was pulling some arrows out from his legs and arms.

"What happened?" Ren asked as they ran up to Logan and Erdin.

"Asshole made it past me and stabbed Erdin," Logan explained to them as Ren began inspecting the wound. "I managed to get him though."

"Why aren't there more soldiers coming back into the fort?" Nora asked as Ren's hand began glowing before he placed it over the wound. "If the commander issued a retreat, then why aren't more soldiers coming in?"

"I don't know, maybe Atlesian Pride, I never understood that," he explained as he ripped an arrow out of his leg. "Part of being a soldier does get the idea in your head about dying for your country, but I was more concerned with bringing Erdin back."

"Don't make light of those soldiers' sacrifice," Erdin managed to say as Ren pulled his hand away revealing that while the wound was still deep, it wasn't life threatening, "but I do appreciate you bringing me back."

"No problem," he replied as he ripped out the last arrow from his shoulder.

Pyrrha then looked up to the wall and noticed Commander Ironwood approaching the gate controls. "Everyone, Commander Ironwood looks like he's about to close the gates," she said causing the others to look up.

"What about the other soldiers retreating?" Nora asked them as the four looked over to Logan and Erdin.

"They won't be on this side of the gate," Logan said in a grim tone, letting the meaning sink in.

"We can't let that happen," Jaune said as he looked outside the gate, seeing several injured soldiers making their way to the fortress. "Can we stop Ironwood at all?"

"Not unless you can get on top of the wall before he can pull the lever," Erdin told them as he sat on the ground against the wall.

Jaune stopped for a moment while he thought of a solution before his gaze passed over Nora. Looking to the gate, he suddenly had a plan. "Nora, get to the center of the gate and place your hammer in the middle. When the gate drops, it'll be propped open allowing the soldiers enough time to enter the fortress."

"On it," she said giving him a quick salute before bolting through the groups of soldiers, managing to make it to the entrance and lining the head of her hammer under the drop gate.

"Ok, so, Ren, Pyrrha, you two need to be at Nora's side to protect her long enough so we can get as many soldiers in as we can," Jaune said getting nods in confirmation from both before they ran over to the gate. He was about to take a step away, but a hand shot out grabbing his wrist, stopping the bard in his tracks.

Turning back, Jaune saw Logan struggling to stand up while he wrapped bandages around some of his wounds. "Bring me over to gate. I can shout one more time and I know just the right shout to clear the area," he told him as his eyes started to glow even brighter behind his scowl.

Putting Logan's arm over his shoulder, Jaune brought the man towards the entrance. Just as they reached the entrance, the group watched as the gate was released, creating sparks and bending the gate as it collided with the hammer. While the injured soldiers started making their way under the gate, Ren and Pyrrha immediately sprang into action, killing White Fang members and grimm as soon as they entered through the gate.

"Just a bit more," Logan said to them as Pyrrha decapitated another beowolf. "When I say so, let me go. I'll let out a shout, then close the gate once the area is clear."

"I don't think we can hold them back long enough," Ren shouted back as he parried a White Fang soldier's sword before following up by slashing his neck open. Nora gripped her hammer tightly as she watched Ren engage another White Fang member.

From the other side of the gate, Jaune and Logan watched as the last of the living soldiers entered the gate's archway, followed shortly by White Fang and grimm. "Now!" Logan shouted as he pushed himself off of Jaune and into a roll under the gate. The last of the soldiers entered the fortress just as Logan finished his roll, propping himself on one knee. Taking a deep breath, he shot his arms to his side. "FUS RO DAH!"

His words echoed throughout the fortress for a moment before a blue pulse of energy shot from his mouth. As the pulse hit the grimm, several in the front were turned to ash from the destructive magic, but many more were simply thrown back into the field. The White Fang members that were hit by the pulse were thrown outward into the field, some dying from the whiplash immediately. Logan started to lose consciousness, but he managed to push himself off his leg just enough to fall behind the gate before he fainted.

"Nora, now!" Jaune shouted as he reached down to pull Logan away from the gate before it slammed closed.

"Is it over?" Pyrrha asked as she finished snapping the neck of one of the remaining White Fang.

"I… I don't know," Jaune replied as he looked out through the gate. On the other side, he could see the White Fang and grimm recovering from the attack, but instead of rushing the gate again, the opposing army simply stared down the entrance. "They aren't moving."

"Who kept the gate open?" an angry voice demanded from above, but before they could see who said that, Ironwood landed on the street, cracking the stone from the impact. "Who disobeyed the order?" he demanded again, looking to the various soldiers on the street.

"That would've been me," Jaune answered him as he stood up to face the commander. "You lowered the gate too soon. There were still soldiers on the other side, but we needed to do whatever we could to let as many of them in as we could."

The older man sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Alright, I understand your reasoning Mr. Arc, but I did not plan for your involvement." He turned to the other soldiers and looked at their injuries. "Those who are too injured to fight, head to the infirmary in the cave system and close the doors behind you. Once the doors are closed, a group of knights will need to cover the doors in the event of the White Fang breaching our walls. The White Fang is staying still for the time being. We do not know why, but we need to be prepared for the worst. Soldiers need to travel to the second level and get to the battlements." Ironwood paused then turned around to face Jaune. "Mr. Arc, bring the dragon slayer to the second level. If possible, the Arcanist might be able to restore his magic power so he can help fight later today."

"Right, and what about Erdin?" Jaune asked turning to the injured spearman. "Those two are almost inseparable."

"Fine, bring him along, his wound may also need the attention of an advanced healer," Ironwood told him as he began heading to the wall. "I will return to my post for now and see try to find out what the White Fang is planning." He stopped for a second before looking to the bard. "It would seem that I was correct in believing that history will repeat itself."

* * *

While the four were bringing Logan and Erdin to the second level, the Atlesian's suddenly launched off a series of catapults at the White Fang's army. After dropping the two soldiers off at the healers, they immediately turned around and went through the gates leading to the first level.

"Hey, Jaune, what did Ironwood mean when he talked about history repeating itself?" Nora asked as the four of them passed a nearby entrance to the infirmary that a handful of soldiers were disguising the entrance.

"Well, it's not that important," he replied, causing them to look at him with a look of mild skepticism. "Guys, I'm serious, it's not that important."

"But then why would the commander of the Atlesian Army personally make that comment, to you, if it wasn't important?" she asked him, causing him to sigh in annoyance.

"Look, he was just talking about my family's history from back in the time of the Great War," Jaune explained, "In the war my great-great-grandfather was apparently a war hero, so my family was raised to nobility status back in Mistral."

"Wait, you're a noble?"

"You're from Mistral?" Ren quickly interjected causing Jaune to let out a long groan.

"Yes, I'm from Mistral, but my family is not noble anymore," he explained as they could hear the sounds of an explosion coming from the wall near the front gate. "My ancestors were good at fighting in a war, but not at maintaining their status. So, it took about twenty years for them to return to just being a merchant family. So, like I said, it's not that important."

"Jaune," Pyrrha said, getting his attention, "was your ancestor the White Dragon of War? I learned about him during my training. The other elite knights hold him in high regard."

"Yes, that was my ancestor, but we have more pressing matters at the moment," he told her, gesturing to a large number of soldiers coming up the road.

"Retreat! Retreat to the second level!" one of the soldiers shouted as they charged forward.

When the four of them looked further down the wall, the could see a large number of knights running back to the second level or simply jumping down to the street, except for a small handful of knights that stayed back to fight off the White Fang soldiers that managed to scale the wall. Behind the remaining soldiers, Jaune watched the front gate explode. After the smoke cleared grimm began pouring through the streets with few White Fang soldiers following shortly behind.

"Jaune, what do we do?" Ren asked looking over to the bard.

"We retreat, there's not much we can do," he told them as he started running backwards before turning around with the others following him. "We're in the fortress, so fighting the White Fang right now isn't ideal with the catapults preparing to fire on the first level."

"It's not just that," a nearby knight told Jaune after overhearing their conversation. "Commander Ironwood was taken by a nevermore before it flew off. We didn't know what to do until the spymaster issued another retreat further into the fortress."

"Ironwood was taken?" Pyrrha asked as they passed through the gate, stopping off to the side of the gate to allow other soldiers to pass. "This is not good. Fort Mantle is the most defendable fortress, but only from attacks from the outside. An internal threat will be much more difficult to take down. Without the commander, the Atlesians will be at a major disadvantage."

"We need to barricade the gate after it's closed," Jaune said as he looked around the area for something to block the gate. "We need to buy as much time as we can for the second level trebuchets to aim their weapons. Then some soldiers will need to block off the entrance from the battlements since the White Fang has started taking that over as well."

"You saw how fast the White Fang broke through the front gate," Pyrrha told him, "there is no way we will have enough time to block up the gate before the White Fang breaks it down again."

"Well, I… I… I don't have anything for this," Jaune said, running his hands through his hair in frustration. He looked over to the gate and noticed the soldiers' numbers were reducing as they passed though. "I don't know what to do right now. We have maybe more than a minute before the grimm reach the second gate. We don't have any time so set up barricades on the street, and I can't just suggest people go out there and get themselves killed fighting grimm for a plan that probably won't even work."

Ren and Nora looked to each other before she reached over and gripped his arm tightly. Pyrrha looked over to them before looking to Jaune who was pacing around in a circle while trying to make a plan. She looked over to the gate and saw that even less knights were passing through the gate before she looked up and saw a single, large chain connected to the gate release. "What if it was just one person who went in?" she asked gripping her sword tightly.

"It wouldn't work, there is no person here that could possibly-" he replied before he realized what she meant. "Pyrrha, don't!" He turned around just in time to see her bolt through the gate just as the last soldier passed through. He tried running after her, but as soon as he took a step, Pyrrha threw her shield causing it to bounce off the wall, heading directly to the large chain that was holding up the gate. Her shield crashed into one of the large links, breaking through half of it before the shield travelled back to her.

Time seemed to slow down as Jaune neared the gate while the rest of the chain link broke, dropping the door. He could see Pyrrha turn back for a moment, giving him an assuring smile before turning back to the horde.

* * *

" _You see, when your great-great-grandfather's son became of age, he told him his story and gave him these weapons. Then his son gave the sword and shield to his son, and so on and so forth until my father took me into his room," Jaune's father explained gesturing towards the other oil paintings in the room. "After he was done, he turned to me and asked me one question, 'What is the purpose of the sword and shield?" He then turned to face Jaune, now holding Crocea Mors in his hands. "So, Jaune Arc, what is the purpose of the sword and shield?"_

" _Well," Jaune said thinking to himself before answering, "the sword's purpose is to wound your enemies while the shield's purpose is to block oncoming attacks."_

 _He chuckled to himself while securing the shield to his left arm, confusing the younger Arc for a moment. "That was my answer as well, but my father told me that it was wrong."_

* * *

Jaune didn't understand why, but his body began to move on its own, diving towards the gate before it closed. His dive touched the ground just under the gate before following through with his roll, landing on his feet on the other side of the gate just as the door slammed shut.

"Jaune!" both Ren and Nora shouted at him as they reached the gate. Pyrrha suddenly turned around and looked shocked when she saw Jaune standing behind her.

"What are you doing!?" she demanded, running over to him. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

" _You're_ going to get yourself killed! You can't hold them all off by yourself!" he shouted back before turning to Ren and Nora. "We'll buy you as much time as we can. Block off the gate as much as you can."

"No, no!" Nora shouted as she gripped the bars on the gate before trying to pull it back up. "We can get time some other way. You don't have to kill yourselves!" She tried to lift the door again, but turned around to face Ren. "Ren, help me with this door."

"Nora!" Jaune shouted, hitting the gate causing her to freeze and look at him. "It'll be alright. I'm fine with this choice. Now, you and Ren need to bock off the gate."

"Jaune! The grimm are getting close!" Pyrrha shouted back as she started running down the road to meet up with the grimm and White Fang soldiers. "If you're going to help, we need to leave now!"

"Goodbye you guys," he said then turned around, raising his shield before running after Pyrrha.

* * *

"Everyone, you heard the kid, start blocking off the gate and battlements to the first level!" one of the wounded soldiers shouted to the others. "They're getting us as much time as we can, so we can't let them die in vain."

"They're not going to die…" Nora said balling up her fists.

"Nora, we should help the soldiers," Ren said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I wish we could help them, but the best thing we can do is block the-"

"Ren, they are our friends, we can't do nothing," she said tilting her head down to avoid looking him in the eyes. "They are _not_ going to DIE!"

Gripping her hammer tightly, Nora ran over to a nearby stone building and slammed the head of her weapon into the side of the building. Breaking through the first wall of the building, she pushed her swing further through the building that collided with the other wall, shattering both of them. The building started to fall, so she quickly ran to the back side and slammed her hammer into it causing the stone to fly towards the gate.

Many of the knights were stopped as they watched the rest of the building fall into a pile of rubble. Nora quickly dragged her hammer against the ground before crashing it into the pile of rubble, sending most of the of the stone to the gate, covering it in rubble.

"All of you, block the wall entrance!" Nora shouted turning to the soldiers who were shocked at the display they had just seen. She then ran over to Ren and gripped his collar. "Come on, we're going to help them."

"How are we going to get over that wall…" he drifted off as he looked down to Nora's hand. "No."

"We don't have a choice, sorry," she said, pulling him down for a moment before thrusting her arm forward, throwing the rogue through the air, over the wall. "I'm coming guys." Running to the wall, Nora jumped in the air, gripping the end of her warhammer's shaft to better hook the wall before pulling herself up. Then she jumped off the wall, landing on the first level's street.

* * *

"Pyrrha, I hope you have a plan for this," Jaune said as the two of them ran towards the White Fang army.

"The plan was to fight off the army as long as I could," she told him as she let go of her sword for a moment to grip the blade. Holding her arm up, she javelin-threw her sword managing to impale the front beowolf's head.

Raising her shield, Pyrrha jumped forward to bash the same grimm before pulling out her sword. She lowered her shield in time to clock an ursa's claw on her left before stabbing the beowolf to her right. Pivoting on one of her feet, she quickly slashed with a large arc, cutting through several grimm before stabbing the grimm to her left.

Jaune ran forward and shield bashed the closest White Fang member, knocking them to the ground before he quickly thrusted into the man's chest. He pulled his sword free just in time to brace his other hand against his shield before a beowolf slammed its claw into it. Pushing against his shield, he managed to redirect the grimm's claw to the side before he stabbed it in the head.

Pyrrha threw her shield off to the side causing it to bounce off a nearby building to hit a White Fang soldier in the neck before it flew up in the air. A beowolf lunged at her preparing to bite her, so she quickly moved her sword into its mouth bracing it with her other hand causing the beast to stop before it could attack. With a powerful pull, she managed to cut off its bottom jaw before sidestepping and slashing its throat. As the grimm fell to the ground, she jumped onto its body and launched herself into the air just in time to catch her shield with her left hand. Pivoting her body in the air, she whipped her shield at a White Fang soldier causing them to fall to the ground before she caught her shield again.

Jaune managed to bock another strike from an ursa, but before he could retaliate, a White Fang soldier ran forward managing to stab him in the leg. He quickly redirected his shield to hit the White Fang soldier's hand forcing them to let go of his dagger. Then he slashed with an uppercut catching the White Fang soldier's chest leaving a large wound. While his back was turned, he suddenly felt a warhammer collide with his back armor throwing him to the ground. He rolled over just in time to see the bear faunus swing his hammer down, so he barely managed to raise his shield to block the attack. As soon as the hammer was lifted, Jaune rolled away before slashing his sword at the faunus's chest only managing to scratch the man's armor. Before the faunus could attack again, Jaune saw a dagger sail through the air and imbed itself in the man's neck.

"Nora, go to the left and stop the grimm that are getting past Pyrrha," he heard Ren say as the rogue ran next to Jaune and retrieved his dagger. A beowolf ran towards them, so Ren quickly ducked under the claw before he slashed its neck open. Then he kicked a nearby White Fang soldier knocking them to the ground just before an ursa stomped on their head. "Jaune, hurry and get up."

"Right," he said picking himself up to his feet. "Why are you guys here?"

"Well, I didn't think we would come, but Nora had a different idea in mind," he said turning to the bard just as a beowolf was thrown through the air from the left side of the street. "You guys are our friends, so you can't get rid of us that easily. That, and you apparently forget that Nora has a magic hammer, so rubble was easy to move."

"Right, right," he said then looked over to Nora who was knocking back several enemies with each strike as she pushed forward. "Well, I guess we have a better chance of fighting them if there were four of us."

"Yeah, now then," Ren said as he ran to the right and stabbed a man in the heart with both daggers. "We need to fight."

Jaune braced himself against his shield before charging forward and colliding with an ursa only causing it to become annoyed. It stood up on both feet and swung one claw that he managed to block. Pushing its arm to the side, he immediately started slashing at the grimm, leaving several deep wounds on the creature's chest. The ursa remained still after the attack, so Jaune quickly shield-bashed the creature, knocking it down before slowly turning to ash.

Nora ducked under a beowolf claw before uppercutting the creature with her hammer launching it in the air. Recovering from the swing, she placed the head of her hammer against the ground before spinning around, hitting several grimm with a single swing. She followed through with the swing enough to spin around again, but then she let go of the hammer causing it to fly directly into the chest of an ursa throwing it backwards. Running forward, she grabbed the hammer and quickly delivered a downward strike to the ground causing it to crack, sending large rocks from the street to hit several grimm and soldiers.

Pyrrha stabbed the closest grimm in the chest before pulling her blade free to slam the pommel into a White Fang soldier's neck. She spun around and quickly bashed the soldier's head, knocking them to the ground. She then threw her shield into the ground allowing it to bounce upwards and hit an ursa's head, stunning it. Running forward, she raised her left arm to catch her shield and thrusted upwards with her sword impaling the grimm's head from under its jaw.

Ren ran towards a group of five soldiers and flipped his daggers around into a reverse grip. Jumping at the closest one, he shot out his foot to kick the first soldier in the throat. As he fell down from the jump, he placed one hand on the ground before pushing himself upwards into a flip that allowed him to land on his feet. The closest soldier ran at him to strike the rogue, but Ren caught the sword with his dagger just in time to parry the weapon and counter by slicing its owner's neck. Jumping at the closest White Fang soldier, he managed to wrap his legs around their head before quickly pivoting his body to snap their neck. While the soldier fell down, Ren quickly threw his daggers into the chests of each of the remaining soldiers. After he jumped off the soldier, he ran over and retrieved his daggers from the other soldiers' chests.

While the four were fighting, they began to notice that they were being pushed back from the number of enemies they were being faced with. When looking back briefly, Jaune noticed that the gate was within eyeshot. It was then he noticed arrows began flying from behind the wall at the White Fang army.

"The Atlesians are shooting arrows this way," Jaune told them as he turned around watching the arrows begin knocking down grimm and White Fang. "Don't go too far ahead."

"Got it," Nora said as a heavily armored ursa major that seemed larger than normal charged her. She quickly hit the creature's side with her hammer, but all that happened was it stagger a bit before roaring at her. "Uhh, guys, I might need some help."

Pyrrha threw her shield at the ursa, but it turned around just in time to knock it away towards the gate. She quickly turned around, stabbing the beowolf she was fighting before in the chest before leaping at the ursa. As she landed, she slashed at its legs only leaving minor scratches behind.

"Ren, go help them," Jaune told him as he blocked another beowolf's claw with his shield before slashing at its chest. "There's less grimm pouring through now. I can handle myself for a bit."

"Ok, as long as you think you can handle this," Ren said as he pulled his dagger free from a beowolf's chest. He sprinted past the bard, placing a glowing hand on his back for a moment as he passed, giving Jaune slightly more energy than he had before.

Ren leapt forward before landing on the ground in a slide underneath Nora's hammer swing. While he slid, he quickly slashed at the unprotected chest causing black smoke to fall from the wounds. He then rolled further forward to the other side of the grimm and started stabbing it in the chinks in its armor.

Jaune blocked a beowolf's powerful swing that pushed him back several feet. He then had to turn around to block a White Fang soldier's sword before charging forward, knocking the soldier down to the ground. Redirecting his shield, he managed to block an ursa's claw before diving under the next attack and countering by slashing its side.

Nora delivered an uppercut to the ursa's head causing it to be stunned for a moment. She then gripped the hammer tightly with both hands before swinging upwards again catching the grimm's chest, forcing it to stand back up on its hind legs. Pyrrha took this moment to dive in and slash its open chest causing even more smoke to flow from its wounds. The ursa noticed this and was about to slam its claw into her, so she rolled out of the way as it slammed back onto the ground.

Jaune dived under the ursa's backwards swing allowing him to land on its side and slash it again. It turned around and was about to strike him, but he managed to block the strike before thrusting upwards stabbing the grimm under the jaw like how he saw Pyrrha kill a grimm earlier. Pulling his sword free, Jaune raised his shield to block an axe. Side-stepping to the soldier's left, he managed to bash him, throwing the knight to the ground. He was about to finish off the soldier, but then he heard an alpha beowolf's howl approaching him.

Pyrrha and Ren began slashing the ursa's sides creating deeper wounds with each strike. The ursa started to turn to face Pyrrha, but as soon as it turned a little, Nora slammed her hammer down on the grimm's ebow, snapping it inward. Ren then jumped on the ursa's back, stabbing any exposed skin he could find.

Jaune managed to raise his shield just in time to block the alpha's claw, but then its other claw hit his right side, throwing him off to the side. He managed to land on his feet before planting one foot on the ground behind him and bracing his other hand against the back of his shield.

Ren reached the back of the ursa's head and started repeatedly stabbing its exposed skin. Nora managed to uppercut the grimm again with a powerful strike knocking it upwards slightly. Pyrrha ran forward again and stabbed it in the bottom of its jaw, but it didn't appear to stab in enough to be fatal.

She let go of her sword before rolling away from the grimm and turning to the other girl. "Nora, nail it!" she shouted at her. Nora glanced at Pyrrha for a moment before looking at the sword imbedded in the grimm's jaw.

She moved her hands to the bottom of the warhammer's shaft before swinging upwards with all her might hitting the pommel of Pyrrha's sword. The blade was immediately forced upwards, stabbing all the way through the grimm's skull before launching out of its head. Ren barely managed to catch Pyrrha's sword before it flew away. In one quick movement, he managed to throw it back to its owner who caught it, giving it one swing to flick off any remaining blood.

"Right, now we need to help Jaune," Pyrrha said as the three turned around to see Jaune engaging an alpha beowolf. They were about to run forward, but stopped as they watched the beowolf's claw hooked Jaune's shield ripping it off his arm and staggering him for a moment. Then in one quick movement, the beowolf's other claws went for an upwards slash piercing his abdomen.

"Jaune!" the three of them shouted as they watched the grimm pull out its claw, hooking his chest piece from underneath and ripping it off leaving a trail of blood in the air as Jaune fell to the ground.

Pyrrha immediately threw her sword, stabbing the beowolf in the chest before she bolted forward. Reaching in, she grabbed the hilt of her sword before kicking the grimm, sending it flying back. She then ran over to the bard and saw the three deep wounds on his front as Jaune tried to pick himself up, placing one hand against the wound.

"Hey, hey, don't try to move," she said as she looked over to Ren and Nora. She could see Nora throwing her hammer at the alpha beowolf causing the hammer's head to sail by inches from her face. "Ren, help me here!"

"They're pretty deep," he said checking the wounds, "and I don't have enough chi to heal them."

"Then what can we do?" Pyrrha asked as Nora ran behind the three hitting three grimm with a single strike, throwing them into a nearby building.

"I don't think there is anything we can do."

"There has to be something."

"I'll find something to stop the bleeding. Just keep him awake," Ren said bolting away from them to search.

"This was a suicide mission from the start," Jaune managed to say before he coughed, spraying Pyrrha with some of his blood. "I figured that at least one of us would die." He suddenly let out a long groan trying to look at his wounds. "Though, things were looking up once the Atlesians started to help out."

"Stop it," Pyrrha said lightly pushing him down so he would be on his back. "Stop talking like that. You're not going to die here. You have a lot left to do. You still need to write that song, right?"

"Heh, to be honest, I was thinking of giving up becoming a bard," he said with a slight chuckle. "Truth be told, I'm a terrible singer."

"Come on, I'm sure you're not that bad of a singer," she said looking for Ren.

"No, no, I think one of my sisters described it as a grindstone to her ears," he said tilting his head back slightly before Pyrrha grabbed the back of his head and tilted it forward.

"I'm back," Ren said running over with an Atlesian Knight's white cape before placing it against Jaune's wounds. He then took Jaune's hand and placed it on top of the cape. "Jaune, I'm going to need you to keep applying pressure to the wounds. Pyrrha, you're going to have to move him, the grimm will overtake this area soon."

"Just leave me," he said placing his free hand on Pyrrha forearm. "You guys need to be here and fight, not stuck worrying about me."

"Shut up," Pyrrha said grabbing Jaune's shield and sword placing them over his chest before moving her hands under his back and leg, picking him off the ground, "we're not going to let you die here. Ren, help Nora."

"Already on it," he said turning around and charging at the White Fang's army.

Pyrrha carried Jaune halfway back to the gate before bringing him to an alley on the side of the street. "You stay here," she said propping him against the wall, placing his weapons by his side. "Just keep applying pressure. I'll be back soon." After making sure he wasn't going to fall, Pyrrha ran back to the street heading to the horde.

" _Why did I even bother coming here?"_ Jaune thought to himself, cringing from the pain as he looked down to the wounds while his eyelids felt heavy. _"I'm the weakest one out of all of us. Why would I risk my life to fight in such a pointless battle?"_ As his vision started to fade, Jaune swore he could hear his father's laughter fill the air.

* * *

 _Jaune's father started laughing as he watched his son's confusion. "What? How?" Jaune asked as he watched his father draw the sword. "That's what swords and shields were designed to do."_

" _Yes, that is what they were_ designed _to do, but that is not their_ purpose _," he said confusing Jaune yet again. He then shot his left arm in front of himself, taking a step towards Jaune, forcing him to come face-to-face with the shield. "The purpose of your shield is to protect yourself." He took a step back, letting the shield rest off to his side. Then he took his sword and aimed the tip of the blade at the ceiling. "The purpose of your sword-"_

* * *

Jaune's vision returned, hearing the sounds of battle draw closer. "No," he said taking the Atlesian cape off his wound for a moment to unfurl the fabric. With the long fabric in hand, Jaune started to wrap it around himself. "This isn't how I want to die. I don't want to die weak and alone." Letting out a small pained cry, he tightened the cloth as much as he could.

Standing up, Jaune picked up his shield and secured it to his arm. _"The purpose of my shield is to protect myself,"_ he thought, looking around not finding his chest piece anywhere, he assumed it was left behind. _"Without my armor, my shield Is my best defense."_

Grabbing his sword's hilt, Jaune began walking out of the alley, seeing Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha fighting grimm nearby. Talking a few steps forward, he stumbled a bit, falling to one knee. He let out a short shout as his wounds started flaring with pain. Ignoring everything his instincts were telling him, Jaune stood back up and took several more steps forward. In front of him, he could see Pyrrha engaging with an alpha beowolf.

His steps slowly turned into a jog as he approached the others. Then his jog turned into a run as he watched the beowolf knock Pyrrha's sword from her hand. _"The purpose of my sword,"_ he thought, suddenly appearing in front of Pyrrha, slamming his shield into the beowolf's claw causing it to stagger back, _"is to protect the ones I care about!"_ In one movement, Jaune thrusted his sword into the chest of the grimm causing black mist to spray from its back and chest. Raising one foot, he kicked the grimm off his sword and to the ground as it began turning to ash.

"Jaune, what are you doing here?" Pyrrha asked as she was shocked at the sight in front of her.

"I'm done being the weakest," he said holding both his sword and shield ready. "We're a team, and I'm not going to let you guys fight this battle on your own." He looked down the street and noticed that the glowing red eyes of the grimm seemed to flicker for a moment before they continued their charge. It was then he noticed that the group of enemies approaching them consisted mostly of White Fang soldiers since they used the grimm as cover from the arrows, but from the back, he noticed one large death stalker approaching, letting the arrows harmlessly bounce off its armor. "We need to deal with these guys as soon as we can. The death stalker is going to take all of us to kill it."

Running forward, he shield-bashed the nearest beowolf before delivering a downward slash cutting off the grimm's arm. He then spun around and bisected the beowolf before kicking it down. He then raised his shield just in time to block a strike from an ursa. Nora jumped in, hitting the grimm and launching it down the street.

Pyrrha threw her shield down the street causing it to collide with a White Fang soldier's chest and stunning them before it sailed back to her. She then caught it just in time to use the shield's edge to impale an ursa's neck. Letting go of her shield, she jumped at a nearby beowolf and launched off its chest with both feet before landing on her shield. With a simple downward strike, she stabbed the ursa's head before jumping to the street and retrieving her shield.

Ren parried a soldier's sword before dragging his own blade across the faunus's chest, then kicking him back into another soldier. He launched himself at the man, using his daggers to stab him through the dead body between them before pulling his blade free and stabbing him in the neck. Jumping back, he landed close to the ground before spinning around, using his leg to trip nearby White Fang soldiers.

Jaune quickly ran over to Ren and stabbed the closest knocked down white Fang soldier before using the pointed base of his shield to impale another. Ripping his shield free, Jaune raised it to block a warhammer aimed at him. Pushing back against the hammer, he managed to stagger the soldier before thrusting his blade into the man's chest, spraying blood as he pulled his sword free and throwing the man back.

Before he could react, Jaune felt a White Fang soldier's sword cut across his exposed back causing more blood to stain the makeshift tourniquet. Ren immediately launched himself at the soldier, but the soldier raised one arm to block the attack before slashing at the rogue, leaving a horizontal cut across his abdomen. As the White Fang soldier swung at Ren again, the blade was caught by Jaune's sword before he knocked it to the side. Ren took his chance to strike again, stabbing the man in the heart.

Nora slammed the head of her hammer into the closest ursa's head, crushing it. Then she hit the body with her hammer, sending it into a beowolf, impaling the smaller grimm with its bone spikes. Pyrrha ran behind Nora just in time to block a beowolf's claw with her dented shield. She then retaliated by cutting off the beowolf's leg before stabbing it in the neck.

Pyrrha then threw her shield at the street, causing it to bounce and collide with a beowolf's jaw, stunning it. Nora ran forward and slammed the hammer into the grimm's chest, throwing it down the street and into the rain of arrows.

Before they could attack the next grimm, they stopped as all the grimm in the area suddenly let out a series of pained howls and roars as their eyes stopped glowing red. Then they slowly stopped howling before looking around. The smaller grimm suddenly turned around and started running out of the fortress. A large number of the large grimm followed the smaller ones in the retreat, but the rest immediately turned on the White Fang and started slaughtering them. From the second level, the trebuchets started firing on the first level, hitting several groups of grimm and surviving White Fang that were running to the gate.

The large death stalker finally passed through the rain of arrows and slammed its pincers into a group of five White Fang soldiers, sending them flying into a nearby building. It then shot out its stinger, crashing into the street and sending large stones flying. The grimm then used its pincers to pick up the last white Fang soldier and crushed them before throwing the soldier into the ground.

Nora ran forward and swung her hammer at the death stalker, but it suddenly shot out its stinger, colliding with the hammer head, stopping it before the weapon could hit. It then swung its pincer throwing Nora off to the side, barely giving Pyrrha any time to catch the smaller girl.

Jaune ran at the grimm and dived under the pincer before it hit him and slashed at the creature's face. He then had to raise his shield to block the stinger, throwing him to the ground several feet back. Ren bolted in and stabbed a pair of the grimm's legs in the joints before rolling under its body. He then stabbed two more legs causing the death stalker to roar in pain before slamming its body downward, smashing Ren into the ground and knocking him out.

The death stalker backed up several feet to shoot its stinger at Ren, but Nora ran forward in time to block the stinger with her hammer. Pyrrha ran forward and slashed at the grimm, managing to cut the exposed skin around its mouth. The grimm shot out its stinger again, hitting the ground next to Nora, sending several stone shards into her arms.

As Jaune picked himself up, he looked at the massive grimm in front of him. He saw that the death stalker was heavily armored and the exposed areas were either its face or in areas that wouldn't be fatal. He then looked at the creature's tail and noticed that at the base of its stinger, the area didn't have any armor.

"Nora, Pyrrha, attack the base of its stinger!" Jaune shouted as he ran towards Ren. He dived forward, rolling next to the rogue then pulled Ren's arm over his shoulders. "Hold it off for a moment. I'll be back." He quickly turned around and started bringing Ren back the thirty feet to the gate.

Pyrrha jumped back in time to dodge the death stalker's stinger before slashing at the base. She slashed at it a second time then ran away as the grimm swing the back side of its pincers at her. Nora jumped in between Pyrrha and the pincer and slammed the head of the hammer on the ground before letting go. The grimm's pincer collided with the hammer's shaft causing its bone armor to shatter from the impact with the immovable weapon.

Nora immediately grabbed her hammer and slammed it into the exposed skin, breaking off a large portion of its pincer from the inside. Pyrrha then jumped in and slashed its eyes, cutting through several of them. The grimm suddenly lunged forward, hitting Pyrrha and throwing her to the ground. Before it could bite her, Jaune ran forward and stabbed its mouth causing it to let out a screech as it reeled back in pain.

Pyrrha started picking herself up as Jaune blocked the grimm's mouth with his shield while offering her a hand. She reached up and grabbed it before Jaune suddenly threw her onto the grimm's back. She knew what he wanted her to do, so she started slashing at the stinger's base, making the wound deeper with each slash.

The grimm jumped with its back legs knocking Pyrrha off balance causing her to land behind Jaune. The grimm was about to shoot its stinger at Pyrrha, but Jaune thrusted his sword into one of the death stalker's eyes causing it to reel back in pain again allowing him to pull his blade free before he ran back several feet.

Pyrrha jumped off the ground and pivoted her body into throwing her shield. It sailed through the air and collided with the wound she had created on the creature's stinger, cutting through the base. The stinger dropped, having the tip crack its armor.

"Nora, shield!" Jaune shouted to Nora as he crouched behind his shield.

Nora looked at him for a moment before running directly at the bard. Jumping onto his shield, she launched herself into the air at the grimm. Gripping the bottom of the hammer's shaft, she swung down on the stinger as hard as she could, causing it to break through the death stalker's armor with the tip protruding from its chest.

Pyrrha and Nora watched as the grimm slowly fell to the ground, slowly turning to ash. Nora secured her hammer to her back immediately ran to where Ren was resting and started to pick him up. Pyrrha turned around to face Jaune and saw him standing perfectly still, his shield raised and sword off to the side. When she walked over to him, she could see that he fainted while on his feet. As Pyrrha pulled Jaune's arm over her shoulders, archers from the other side of the wall jumped over and started shooting at any of the remaining White Fang members and grimm.

"Come on, Jaune, we made it," Pyrrha said to him as several knights started helping them over the wall. "You have the heart of a warrior."

* * *

As Ren and Nora were helped onto the street of the second level, the four of them started heading to the infirmary. Nora entered the building first, placing Ren down on the nearest bedroll. Pyrrha quickly followed, placing Jaune down on a bedroll, allowing the healers to work. As they removed Jaune's tourniquet and shirt, she nearly vomited from the sight of his mangled chest.

Turning away, she could see Blake and Yang walking over, the latter's shoulders bandaged and her arms in slings. "What happened to him?" Blake asked as she saw Jaune's chest.

"A beowolf got him," she replied glancing back at the bard before she had to look away. "Despite his injury, he helped us fight. We barely managed to hold them off, with our backs being almost against the second level's gates." She then looked past Yang and saw three of the White Fang deserters resting with one missing her leg. "What happened to you guys?"

"We snuck behind enemy lines and tried to kill Adam and Cinder," Yang said then lowered her head. "It didn't go well. Next thing I know, I woke up here with Blake."

"Wait," Pyrrha said as she realized something, "if you two are here by yourselves, where are Weiss and Ruby?"

* * *

 **Ok, so that happened. The soldiers kind of seemed worthless in this chapter, but that was because I didn't focus on them. The soldiers were actually decent and fought fiercely in the field, but the White Fang overpowered them with the grimm. Then in defending the second gate, most of those soldiers were injured and would just be cannon fodder.**

 **I will also admit that I am not good at writing battles. I can write fights, but anything larger than maybe ten people I have trouble with.**

 **Jaune's dad. Well, his part was straight forward, pass on the family heirloom and give advice.**

 **Jaune's will to fight. Well, I wanted Jaune to do cool stuff, so I had him be injured. Did anyone notice that Jaune is now the team tank like in the show? I had to make him 1v1 the horde while the others fought the mini-boss. Jaune is one of my favorite characters, so I had to do it.**

 **I haven't watched the newest episode of RWBY chibi since I'm not a FIRST member, but I learned that Ruby's birthday is on October 31st. WHAT!? How could they miss such a perfect opportunity to go along with the four seasons theme they had going? Ruby should've had her birthday in Spring, Yang in Summer, Blake in Fall, and Weiss in Winter. Since there's no point in hiding it, I actually had a big plot point revolve around Ruby's birthday after a time skip. It was going to provide conflict, couple fluff, and a little character development, but that plan was DESTROYED by the canon. I'm not mad, but I had to come up with another plot line which now works better than the original. You could say I'm mostly... confused, I guess?**

 **It's October! I love October. The weather's cool, but not freezing. It's almost always partially cloudy. Then there's the little fact of HALLOWEEN at the end of the month! I don't go trick-or-treating, but my friends and I have awesome Halloween parties. Also, I might have to make an All Grimm's Eve chapter revolving around Ruby's birthday.**

 **Anyway, it's four in the morning, I am tired, and I have class at eleven.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **J. Van A.**


	63. The Final Battle

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. Finally! Finally I completed this chapter! Man, it took a while, but at least it wasn't as long as the gap between 61 and 62. I'm not planning on making this story a once a month kind of thing with the updates, it's just that my life has been a bit hectic with school, getting injured, recovering, and even more school. Also, Darkness3rick probably knows how much Xbox I've been playing, but those were to help keep my sanity from the previous examples.**

 **So yeah, we finally get to see what Ruby and Weiss were up to during this incredibly long arc, and I'm not just talking chapter-wise. So who's ready? Well, I'm going to make you scroll a bit more because I have to do reviews.**

 **Reviews:**

 **StarWarsLover1998: Hey, I love Star Wars too, neat. I do hate Porg already though, even though the newest movie hasn't come out yet. Disney just wanted to make another marketable character, just like Baby Groot. Anyway, I know the chibi isn't canon, but Miles Luna confirmed it on twitter that October 31st is Ruby's birthday. I'm sure you found out during the beak between these chapters.**

 **Angel3052: Well, you were right. Nothing that happened in the chapter directly affected Ruby and Weiss, but there were some hints as to what happened to them in the last one and some events that happened in the previous one happened in this one. Sorry about not doing anything with the leading ladies for a while, I've just been experimenting with something to increase the suspense. Also, if I focused on one group at a time, I could tell a clear story instead of jumping around all the time. I do plan on going back to the old writing style soon though. This experiment was for the siege so far, maybe one or two chapters in the future.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Thank you, and I've been trying to make NPCs not cannon fodder as much, but it's better than having the main characters die. I know the chibi is non-cannon, but Miles Luna confirmed her birthday on twitter.**

 **Nakfyre: Wait... you meant the Chaos magic? I thought I confirmed what it was in 'Glynda's Final Lesson.' It actually is a reference to Dark Souls, sorry for the confusion.**

 **And finaly... jumpingninjo (yes, I'm answering them all): Actually, I plan on having Jacques being an asshole. They don't have a soul bond, that would be too confusing to write in, Weiss's healing magic is symbolized by a glowing white light in this story. Thank you, but I still think I'm not that great at writing romance. No, no, no, I am not giving either of them a dick, this ain't that kind of story, bruv (Kingsman reference!).**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Ruby watched over the open field as she saw the Atlesian and White Fang armies illuminated by the moonlight. Her sister was somewhere out in that field on a dangerous mission that could get her killed, and she could do nothing about it. She crossed her arms across her chest to hold herself tight until she felt a hand being placed on her shoulder. When she turned to see who the hand belonged to, she saw Weiss standing there with a concerned look on her face.

"She'll be all right," Weiss told her as she pulled her into a tight hug. "If I know Yang, she's too bullheaded to die."

Ruby chuckled as she rested her head in the nook of Weiss's neck. "If it was about anyone else, I might've been concerned from hearing that," she said as she felt Weiss stroke her hair, "but this is my sister. I've known her all my life, and I know she can take anything that is thrown at her, but I'm still worried."

"I know, I am too," she told her as she looked out into the field watching the armies huddle around various camp fires over the field. "We may only have a few hours, but we should sleep. The White Fang probably isn't going to attack overnight since the front line is illuminated and guarded by those golems."

"Right," Ruby said as she pulled back from the hug while moving her hands to hold Weiss's. "Where should we go? I mean, the barracks are probably filled with tired soldiers."

"And my father might send guards to retrieve me, so staying in a populated area might not be a good idea."

"If I remember correctly, there is an inn somewhere on the first level that the adventurers stayed in before the battle started."

"Then lead the way," Weiss said letting go of Ruby's hand to gesture her to lead. "My family may own this fort, but I barely know my way around it."

* * *

"Hey, kid, wake up," Ruby heard a voice say as she felt a hand shake her. Opening her eyes, she saw Qrow standing next to the bed with his sword resting on his shoulder.

"Uncle Qrow? What's going on?" Ruby asked as she pulled herself up into a sitting position on the bed.

"There's some smoke coming from the forest. The Atlesians are getting restless and preparing to fight," he said as he began walking away from her. "Wake up your girlfriend, we need to be ready to fight."

"What?" she asked herself before looking to the side seeing Weiss asleep, curled up next to her. Her cheeks immediately turned red as she looked from Weiss to Qrow, seeing his smirk before he closed the door behind himself.

* * *

Shortly after the two left the inn, they made their way to the battlements and saw the smoke pouring from the forest as if it was the beginning of a wildfire. Ruby reached over and gripped Weiss's hand tightly as soon as her eyes saw the tower of smoke from the other side of the battlefield. Qrow seemingly appeared behind the two before making his presence known by placing a hand on Ruby's head, ruffling her hair.

"It'll be ok, kid," he said as she turned around and looked at him. "She's just like her mother. Stubborn, direct, and thinks that strength is the most important thing in a battle. Trust me, she'll be fine."

"Thanks, Uncle Qrow," she said as she turned to him with a slight smile while letting go of Weiss's hand.

"Now then, something's happening," he said looking away from her and out to the field, causing his expression to harden.

From the forest, a large grimm army started to emerge as the smoke started to grow even more. The grimm peacefully marched through the White Fang army all the way to the front lines. Both the Atlesians and the White Fang were silent as the grimm made their way through.

It was dead silent for only a few brief moments before the sounds of large wings began beating as a large nevermore emerged from the tree line with several smaller ones following shortly behind, casting shadows over the Atlesian army. On the leader of the nevermores, they could faintly see the figure of a man riding it wielding a glowing red sword.

"That nevermore, Adam is on that nevermore," Weiss said as she watched the battle begin, her hands shaking slightly at the sight of the man who killed her mother. Ruby and Qrow were standing behind her watching as several more nevermores emerged from the trees before landing on the White Fang's side of the battlefield. "We need to take that grimm down."

"I agree," Qrow said as he watched White Fang soldiers mount the grimm before it took off. "The White Fang is trying to rush the gates through the air. There are less soldiers behind the walls, so if they make it here, they could close the gates and use the Atlesians' weapons against them."

"But them the soldiers would have nowhere to retreat to if the White Fang overpowers them," Ruby said as Qrow approached the ledge of the wall.

"It's not a question of 'if,'" he said as black mist began slowly rising off himself. "The White Fang had over half of the battlefield before today, and that was without the help of grimm. I think Jimmy actually listened to me earlier since he issued a possible retreat to his soldiers, but that won't mean anything if the nevermores breach the wall."

"What are we going to do then?"

"Well, Ruby, you should focus on supporting the battlefield with your crossbow. Weiss, use your magic to try and take those nevermores out. I'll do what I can to bring those beasts down."

"Uncle Qrow, how could you do that? You don't have any ranged weapons."

"No, I don't, and I was hoping not to reveal this for a long time, but I don't have much of a choice," he said then jumped off the wall. A moment later the two watched as a familiar bird began flying over the field.

"Uhh… is that?" Weiss asked as she looked between Qrow and the ground, not seeing the man's body on the ground.

"But how?" Ruby asked then suddenly remembered something. "Uncle Qrow is a mage. Maybe his magic is shapeshifting into… a crow." She paused as she turned to her girlfriend, her face turning red. "Weiss, you don't think that he saw us on the ship?

"I-I-I-" she sputtered out, her face turning red before looking to the bird and back to Ruby. "We should focus on the battle!"

"Right!" Ruby responded, pulling her hood over her head to hide her face. Pulling out her crossbow, she looked out into the battlefield and saw Jaune and the others fighting groups of grimm, mostly consisting of beowolves, except that Jaune was fighting an ursa by himself. He was close enough to the wall that Ruby was able to accurately fire off a crossbow bolt that impaled the ursa throwing it into the ground.

Weiss swung her rapier in front of herself, firing off three ice spears aimed at Adam's nevermore. The first spear flew under the creature, but the other two flew directly to the grimm and its rider. Weiss only saw a flash of light as the ice spears shattered.

Ruby fired off several more bolts that struck a small group of beowolves, killing them. She looked over the battlefield and noticed a trebuchet was close to the wall, sending large boulders crashing into the wall. It was close enough to the wall that she could accurately aim at the war machine.

Firing off a crossbow bolt from the enchanted weapon, Ruby managed to hit the side of the trebuchet, causing the war machine to jerk to the side and launch a boulder harmlessly into the mountainside. She fired off another bolt that hit the trebuchet again that forced the machine to move again so it aimed further away from the fortress's walls.

Weiss watched as a nevermore seemed to have its head cut off causing it to fall. Looking to the side, she noticed a nevermore approaching the wall. Running down the battlements, she made it to where the nevermore was headed and stabbed her rapier into the stone. In an instant, several large spiked pillars of ice shot from the stone impaling the nevermore, killing it and throwing the White Fang soldiers off its back. Flicking her hand to the side, the pillars of ice shattered, sending the corpse of the grimm flying down to the battlefield.

Before she could move, Weiss felt as the wall began to shake from a trebuchet boulder colliding with it. She saw where the boulder crashed into the wall and ran to the site while the trebuchet was reloading. Stabbing her rapier into the stone causing several layers of ice to cover the impact area.

She pulled her sword free and fired off another ice spear at the closest nevermore impaling it in the chest causing it to fly directly for Weiss on the battlements. Just before the grimm landed on the wall, Ruby bolted as fast as she could towards Weiss, picking her up and moving her out of harm's way within an instant.

Weiss had to take a moment to recover from what happened as Ruby set her back on the ground then drew her scythe. The nevermore turned to Weiss and Ruby, allowing the White Fang soldiers to dismount onto the battlements behind the nevermore, facing the Atlesian soldiers. The grimm let out a screech that pushed back both girls several feet from the pressure.

Ruby planted her feet on the ground while Weiss quickly got into a battle stance raising her rapier parallel to the ground and her shield in front of herself. The nevermore then flicked its wing at the girls, sending a flurry of feathers at them.

Ruby managed to dodge the first few before everything seemed to slow down to her. Pivoting on her left foot, she spun Crescent Rose in front of her, deflecting many of the feathers within reach. Landing on her right foot, she aimed the tip of her blade at the ground and put as much strength into her swing as she could, managing to create a blast of wind that knocked the feathers off their course.

Weiss bolted forward at the nevermore, stabbing it several times in the chest, which only seemed to annoy the creature. It reared back its head for a moment before striking at her with its beak. She raised her shield in time to block the attack, but the force from the blow threw her into the ground and knocked the shield from her hand. Curling her body before pushing off the ground, she launched herself through the air while drawing the magic hilt from her belt in her free hand.

The grimm started to swing its other wing at them, but Ruby bolted forward with an upwards strike with her scythe. As her scythe connected with the creature's wing, she quickly pulled the weapon back and cut off the appendage. Then she pivoted on her foot with a swing aimed at the nevermore's legs and managed to cut off the left leg.

Focusing magic into the hilt, Weiss managed to create another rapier blade in her right hand. Bolting forward, she lunged at the grimm and stabbed it several times with her rapier then spun around and stabbing it with the magic blade before bringing both weapons together. She then thrusted both weapons into the grimm's neck before pushing her hands out to the side, beheading the creature.

The nevermore was motionless for a second before large ice spikes emerged from the back of its neck. It then collapsed on the battlements before its body slowly fell off the wall to the battlefield. Before it could crash into the soldiers, the grimm turned to ash.

From the other side of where the girls were, they watched as the Atlesian soldiers finished off the White Fang soldiers that rode of the creature. Just as they were recovering, everyone in the fortress heard the sounds of a war horn echoing throughout the fortress to signal a retreat.

While the soldiers started heading back into the fortress, Ruby and Weiss started to fire into the White Fang's army, killing off as many grimm as they could. After several minutes of firing into the army, the majority of Atlesians made it into the fortress. While the two were distracted, they suddenly heard distant shouting and when they turned towards the gate they saw a blue pulse of energy hit the White Fang army, knocking them back from the gate.

An eerie silence filled the air as the grimm army suddenly stopped attacking. Ruby and Weiss quickly exchanged a look of confusion before each letting out a sigh of relief and sitting down on the battlements. When they looked up, they saw a black bird flying towards them letting off smoke.

The bird slowly turned into a large ball of smoke before it crashed into the wall, revealing the figure of Qrow. "Good, you two are safe," he said, coughing as he stood up and walked towards the two.

"Hey, Uncle Qrow," Ruby said in-between breaths as she looked up to the man. "We killed a nevermore."

"Impressive," he said, letting out a sigh as he sat down near the two. "On the ship, it took most of your team to take one down."

"Yeah, about that," Weiss said looking to him. "When we were on the ship, were you-"

"The crow with the same name as mine, just spelt different? Yeah," he interrupted her as he took the flask from his belt to take a drink. "Ozpin thought it would be funny to give me that name."

"So that means that you… saw us?" Ruby asked him, pulling her knees close and pointed between Weiss and herself. "You know, on the upper deck."

He smirked at them for a moment before drinking the rest of the contents in the flask. "Yeah, you two kissing up a storm," he teased them as he put the flask back on his belt. He was silent as the two looked at each other in mild panic. "Don't worry, I haven't said anything about you two to anyone, and I promise I won't in the future."

"Thanks," she said, looking up at the knight with a smile. "So… you can turn into a bird?"

"Yes, yes, I can," he chuckled for a moment as he reached down to his flask before he remembered it was empty. "My sister and I can shapeshift, it's our other form of magic, our whole bodies turn into smoke when we change. Since I'm the unlucky one, I can only turn into a crow, but she has various forms, so it's hard to find her at times. She also has the ability to create portals, so if she _really_ doesn't want to be found, she'll just travel to a different kingdom."

"So, Yang probably won't find her mother," Weiss said as she looked to the man. "It's actually pretty sad."

"I wouldn't say she won't find Raven," he said as he ran his hand through his hair in mild frustration before mumbling, "of all the times to show up, she had to appear just before things went crazy."

"So, Mr. Branwen-"

"Please, just call me Qrow," he interrupted Weiss before smirking, "or you can call me Uncle Qrow. You're basically part of the family already." Both girls immediately started blushing at the comment. "I mean, you guys might start talking about marr-" Before he could stay anything else, Ruby bolted forward and tackled Qrow, hitting his shoulders as hard as she could. He laughed as her fists bounced off him, only raising his hand to protect his face.

"Qrow!" a man shouted causing the three of them to look up and see Ironwood standing there, glaring at him. "Come with me. Miss Schnee, Rose, you two come too." He turned around and started walking away, gesturing for them to follow.

"Are we in trouble?" Qrow asked, looking to Ruby who only shrugged.

"Now would be preferable," he said, looking back for a moment causing the three of them to stand up and follow him. "I don't understand what the White Fang army is doing. They are simply waiting outside of the walls instead of rushing the gates. They could overrun the fort with the amount of grimm they have, including the nevermores that could simply fly over the wall."

"Then why aren't you firing the catapults on the army?" Weiss asked as the four neared the front gate, looking to the remnants of the war machines on the wall.

"Many of the catapults on this level have been destroyed, and those that remain are low on ammunition, so they are waiting for my order before firing," he explained as they stopped next to the gate controls. "The soldiers on the second level are preparing the trebuchets for battle, and the Spymaster will be sending a signal when they are in position."

"That, and your soldiers need to recover," Qrow remarked as he looked out into the street, seeing one nearby knight trip causing a chain reaction resulting in ten knight crashing into the street, "And I don't seem to be helping." He paused for a moment before turning to Ironwood. "It probably isn't a good idea that I am right here. My magic will only cause problems for those nearby."

"I would rather you-"

"Commander Ironwood!" a voice suddenly interrupted the man causing the four of them to look to the grimm army. Weiss's blood froze as she saw Adam fly near the front gate on his large nevermore. Ironwood quickly grabbed a piece of rubble the size of a small boulder with his right hand and threw it at the bull faunus. He simply drew his sword and in an instant the stone was destroyed before it hit his grimm. "Stay your hand, Commander. We only want the royal family. If you surrender them to us, then no more of your soldiers will have to die."

"James, don't even think about it," Qrow said, scowling at the armored man, stepping between him and the two girls.

Ironwood looked over to Qrow for a moment before quickly darting his eyes over to the second level walls. Once Qrow looked to the wall, he could see many of the trebuchets preparing to fire. "While it is my sworn duty to protect the royal family, I place value on the lives of every soldier under me," he said, raising an open hand that caused Adam to smile.

"Then we have a deal?" Adam asked, sheathing his weapon.

"It is an interesting proposition," he said just before an arrow flew through the air and embedded itself in the stone by his feet. "Here is my counter-offer." He shot down his hand causing the trebuchets on the second level to fire at the White Fang army.

Adam reached for his weapon, but at the last moment he lost his footing causing his hand to miss the hilt. Qrow smirked before running towards the end of the wall. Drawing his sword, he leapt off the wall and landed on Adam's nevermore. He then kicked the bull faunus before beheading the grimm.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby shouted as she drew her crossbow and fired off a bolt that flew just in front of Adam's mask.

"Don't do that," Ironwood said as he quickly grabbed the bottom of Ruby's crossbow and pulled it upwards. "A thing you must never do when fighting near Qrow is use ranged attacks. A lot can happen with his magic." She looked over to Qrow as he continued to fight Adam before she pulled back her crossbow and secured it to her belt.

As the nevermore started to fall, Qrow extended his scythe before stabbing the blade into the grimm's body. Adam managed to draw his sword and swing at the knight, but Qrow managed to block it with his other weapon. He then used his large sword to cut off one of the nevermore's wings.

"I hope you can fly," Qrow said as he held onto his scythe as the nevermore's body started to spiral, throwing Adam off the beast. As Adam's view of him was blocked, Qrow's body let off smoke for a moment as the grimm turned to ash. When the ash cleared, Qrow began flying back towards the wall in bird form.

He looked back for just a moment to see Adam run his thumb over his sword's blade causing it to glow. In an instant another large nevermore flew under the faunus and caught him. Before he could reach the wall, Adam and his nevermore flew ahead of him. The grimm shot out its feet and grabbed Ironwood with one foot and both Ruby and Weiss in the other.

' _Shit,'_ Qrow squawked as he began flying faster at the grimm. Just before he reached the nevermore, it flapped its wings sending a gust of air, throwing Qrow back as it reached the second level.

* * *

"Ruby, we need to do something," Weiss said as both of them struggled against the talons holding them. She looked over to Ironwood and saw him push back the talons for a moment before the nevermore quickly squeezed down with the talons causing his armor to bend under the pressure. She then looked ahead and watched as the nevermore carried them over the third level wall. "He's taking us to the top of the fortress."

"Just give me a moment," Ruby told her as she started pushing out her left arm, managing to slip it in between the talons. Reaching to her back, she grabbed the shaft of her scythe and started to pull on it only to realize it was stuck in its sheath. "I can't draw Crescent Rose. Can you do any magic?"

"I can barely move my hands, so I can't properly cast any magic. I could try, but we might be hit with an ice spike," she told her as she tried to move her hands.

"Don't risk it, I might have an idea." Ruby reached to the back of her belt and grabbed her crossbow. She brought it up to her mouth, biting down on the weapon to keep it still. Then she reached back down to her belt and pulled one normal bolt out. Loading the bolt into her crossbow, Ruby pulled her weapon free and placed it against the chest of the nevermore as the beast carried them over the fourth level wall. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course," Weiss said as she managed to move her hand over enough to hold Ruby's other hand.

Ruby pulled the trigger on the crossbow causing the nevermore to suddenly jerk up from the impact of the weapon. They heard the grimm let out a long screech as it tried to stabilize its flight path, but the nevermore's flight speed began to slow.

"What are you two doing?" Ironwood asked as he struggled against the talons.

"We're taking this grimm down," Ruby told him as she put the crossbow in her mouth and loaded another bolt into the weapon. She grabbed the weapon with her free hand and fired off another bolt into the grimm. As the nevermore was thrown back, Ruby and Weiss could see the fifth level's castle within sight.

The nevermore let out another screech as its talons suddenly released all three of them. Ironwood was thrown down to the fortress and the girls watched as he crashed into the fifth level walls. Ruby held onto Weiss's hand, but she let go of her crossbow in order to use that hand to grab the Nevermore's leg.

As the nevermore passed over the fifth level's wall, Adam jumped off the grimm, landing near the gate. Ruby let go of the nevermore's leg causing the two of them to fall into the courtyard. The grimm crashed into the castle's front, causing the front door to be destroyed and broken stone from the castle to fall over the front door trapping everyone inside.

As the two started picking themselves up, Ruby looked towards the gate and watched as several knights rushed Adam. Her vision was blurry, but she watched as they briefly fought Adam before they were slain.

"I've been under strict orders not to kill you, Ruby Rose," Adam said to Ruby as he kicked a nearby dead soldier off to the side. "Originally, I believed you were just lucky when Torchwick came back beaten by you and the princess," he reached up to under his arm and with a grunt, pulled out a single crossbow bolt, "but now I understand just how much of a pain you are. You may not be my target, but I will not hesitate to remove your limbs, you can live without those."

"Get the hell away from her!" they heard a voice shout from above them as Qrow landed between Adam and Ruby with both of his weapons ready. "Kid, take the princess and get her away from here. I'll handle him."

"Uncle-"

"Now is not the time!" he shouted as he briefly turned his head to look at her. Adam took his chance and bolted forward, preparing to draw his sword and attack, but just after he drew his weapon, his grip on the hilt loosened causing him to let go of the sword. Adam quickly picked up his sword and swung at Qrow, but the knight had enough time to block the strike. "Now, Ruby!"

While Ruby and Weiss made their way away from Adam and Qrow, the knight quickly hooked Adam's blade with his scythe, sending it flying. Adam wiped some blood onto his hand causing the blade to stop mid-air and fly back into his hand.

' _So, this is the artifact,'_ Qrow thought to himself as he deflected another strike from the sword with his scythe before jumping back several feet. Flicking his hand backwards, Qrow threw his sword behind him into the ground a short distance away. Gripping his scythe with both hands, he bolted forward at Adam.

As Adam drew his sword to strike at Qrow, the knight fell to his knees into a slide to avoid the sword. Qrow then pivoted his body with a swing at Adam, but the faunus jumped in the air to avoid the attack. He then stopped himself by shooting out one leg and kneel before swinging his scythe upwards. Adam wasn't able to dodge the attack, so he could only watch as the blade cut into his chest leaving a shallow wound.

"I really have been out of the game for a while," Qrow said as Adam landed on the ground and placed a hand on the wound. "A few years ago, that strike would've impaled you through the heart."

"Oh, shut up," Adam sneered as he wiped the blood from his hand on the sword. As soon his hand left the blade, flames coated the weapon. "I'm tired of you people getting in my way. Everything that I have done is for this singular purpose, and I will not be stopped by some old knight."

"Really, everything you've done was for this?" Qrow asked him as he raised his scythe to hook Adam's sword and redirect it into the ground. "So, just humor me, what was the plan?" He quickly leaned back to dodge another strike before striking his jaw with an uppercut from the back end of the scythe's shaft and moving behind the faunus. "Kill the queen and Weiss and travel to Vale make a deal with a demon to get your shiny sword." hooking the blade around Adam's chest, barely giving him any time to lower his sword and block the weapon before Qrow threw him back towards the gate. "Then forcefully take over the White Fang, make your way to Atlas, amass an army, and attack the most defensive fortress in the world to kill the rest of the royal family. While you managed to breach the walls, did you account for how many faunus _you_ got killed charging into battle?"

"They were acceptable losses," Adam said as he swung his sword at Qrow, only to have the knight duck under the blade, but he quickly jerked his knee up, hitting him in the face.

"If you consider them 'acceptable losses,' then you don't deserve to be called a leader," he said, wiping blood from his nose before uppercutting with his scythe then delivering a slam to the ground, shattering the stone at Adam's feet. "From what I hear, if this plan of yours fails, then Sienna Khan becomes the leader of the White Fang."

"I WON'T FAIL!" Adam shouted as he slammed his sword into the shaft of Qrow's scythe, throwing the man back through the air.

Qrow landed on his feet on the back edge of his sword causing the blade to be pushed through the ground several feet towards the castle. Adam bolted forward and thrusted the weapon forward, barely giving Qrow any time to launch himself over the faunus and turn into a crow. Adam didn't have any time to move himself and tripped on Qrow's sword, causing him to fall to the ground.

As Adam began picking himself up, Qrow landed next to him as a large ball of smoke. Qrow's fist shot from the smoke, catching Adam in the jaw and launching him back several feet. Adam landed on his feet and quickly thrusted his blade forward, stabbing Qrow through his chainmail and into his leg.

* * *

"Now, Ruby!" Qrow shouted at her then hooked Adam's sword as Ruby and Weiss made their way away from the two.

"We need to help him," Ruby said as she tried to head back to Qrow, only to feel Weiss pull her arm. "Weiss why are you stopping me? He's my-"

"He told us to get away, I know he's your uncle, but we would just be a distraction to him," Weiss said as she grabbed Ruby's shoulders to turn the younger girl around and face her. "Everyone in the castle is trapped in there. We should try and get them free, then the castle knights can help him against Adam."

Ruby was silent for a moment before looking past Weiss at the castle. "Fine, but I think we need to deal with the grimm first."

"What?" As soon as Weiss turned around, she saw the nevermore pull itself from the rubble and screech at the two.

The grimm looked over to its wing and saw it was broken, so it used the other to send a series of feathers at them. Ruby bolted forward, picking up Weiss and ran off to the side just before the feathers impaled the ground. Setting Weiss down, Ruby bolted at the grimm, but it let out a powerful screech that hit her with a blast of air, sending her flying back towards Weiss.

The nevermore jumped at them, shooting out its beak and stabbing the ground in front of the girls. Weiss drew her rapier and raised her shield, preparing to attack the grimm. It let out another screech at them, but Weiss stabbed the ground and focused magic into the ground creating an ice wall in front of them both.

After the nevermore finished screeching, Weiss shattered her ice wall and immediately shot off several ice spikes at the grimm, only a few stabbing into it. While the grimm was distracted, Ruby bolted forward and stabbed the nevermore's side before dragging the blade down its body as she ran past.

The nevermore was about to turn around to attack Ruby, but Weiss stabbed her rapier into the ground causing ice to form around its feet, pinning it to the ground. Ruby turned around and slammed the back end of her scythe blade into the ground, launching herself into the air above the grimm. Pivoting her body in the air during her descent, Ruby spun around stabbed the blade into the nevermore's head.

Pulling her blade free, Ruby jumped off the grimm's back just as it turned into ash. She and Weiss exchanged looks before running towards the rubble near the entrance. Ruby hooked the scythe onto a boulder before pulling it away. Just as Ruby's body turned, she watched as Adam stabbed Qrow in the leg.

Everything seemed to slow down as Ruby watched Adam pull his sword back and to his side. She suddenly felt her feet hit the ground in a sprint, running towards Adam. Qrow's expression slowly turned into look of shock as he watched Adam change his footing and turn towards Ruby. She was about to jump and avoid the attack, but the stone under her foot suddenly slipped causing the girl to fall to the ground.

Time seemed to return back to usual as she hit the ground. As she started standing up, she looked up and saw Adam as he thrusted his sword at her. Closing her eyes, she waited for the blade to stab her, only to feel nothing. She opened her eyes and looked up, seeing Qrow standing there with smoke falling off his body.

"Hey," he said with a smirk before suddenly coughing, spraying Ruby with several drops of blood. She and Qrow both looked down and saw the tip of Adam's sword protruding from Qrow's chest.

"Q-Qrow," Ruby barely managed to say as she watched Adam pull his sword back allowing Qrow to fall to the ground. "No!" She jumped off the ground and immediately bolted forward before kicking Adam in the chest, throwing him back to the fifth level's gate. She turned around and picked up Qrow before running back to the castle. "Weiss, take care of him, please."

"Right," she said before placing her hand on his chest and focusing her healing magic into the wound. Ruby turned around and bolted towards the gate, readying her scythe. Before she could heal him any further, Weiss felt Qrow's hand shoot up and grab her wrist. "What?"

"Conserve your magic, you'll need it," Qrow told her then looked to Ruby. "Protect her. She's the most important person to me. Just do whatever you can."

"I-I will… Uncle Qrow," Weiss said as she placed Qrow against the wall before running after Ruby.

"Heh, and here I thought that would've been a long running joke," Qrow said to himself as he reached to his belt to grab his flask. Once he opened his flask, Qrow threw it to the side in annoyance once he remembered it was empty. "What I wouldn't give for a drink right about now."

* * *

Ruby bolted at the gate as Adam picked himself up. Once she got close enough, she watched as he drew his sword. Despite her speed and everything appearing slower to her, Ruby had to think fast to avoid the fast strike.

Falling into a slide, she managed to dodge the attack while kicking Adam's legs. As Adam was knocked down, he raised a hand and planted it on the ground while slashing at Ruby's back. The blade dragged across her chainmail cloak, flipping her hood onto her head as Adam landed back on his feet.

Everything seemed to speed up back to normal as Ruby watched Weiss run up to them both. Adam saw Ruby's expression and turned around with a smirk. Before Weiss came close to the two, she pushed her right hand forward to create a wall of ice in front of Adam. He quickly slashed through the wall just as she flicked her hand upward creating a pillar of ice to launch herself in the air over him. Focusing magic into her rapier, she thrusted downward only to have him simply block the attack with the flat end of his sword.

As soon as the blades connected, a thick layer of ice instantly coated his red sword and extinguished the flames. She then landed on the ground behind him and spun around before stabbing the ground at his feet, trapping them in ice before jumping back a few feet. Adam immediately slammed his frozen sword into the ice shattering it and freeing himself, before the girls could attack him.

"So, the scared little princess decides to fight me," Adam said as he watched Ruby and Weiss begin to slowly circle him, keeping eye contact with the princess. "Well, at least you saved me the trouble of finding you."

"I wasn't planning on hiding," Weiss told him as she raised her shield.

"Then what were you doing for the past several months?" he asked her as he wiped some of his blood against the blade causing it to ignite again.

"Preparing for this!" she responded as she swung her right arm in front of herself. A large ice spear shot from the ground aimed directly at him

Adam simply raise his sword before delivering a single vertical slash, cutting the ice spear in half before it melted from the heat. While he was distracted, Weiss bolted forward delivering a series of strikes at him before one finally stabbed him in the side. She pulled her blade free and leaned back just in time to dodge Adam's sword, watching the blade pass directly over her face.

Before he could attack Weiss again, Ruby ran in and hooked Adam's sword before pulling it from his hand. She whipped the blade off to the side and embedded it in the stone causing the flames on the blade to die out. Adam held out a bloody hand causing the sword to fly at him, but Ruby quickly deflected the blade and sent it flying away.

Growling in frustration, Adam closed his fist and punched Weiss in the side before gripping her left wrist and twisting it, forcing her to let go of her rapier. He then lowered his head slightly before headbutting Weiss with his horns and knocking her to the ground. With one swift kick, he caught the side of her face and threw her to the side before kicking the rapier away.

Adam raised a foot above Weiss, but before he could stomp on her, Ruby bolted forward and slammed the back end of her scythe into his chest, throwing him back several feet. She closed the distance between them and swung the back of her scythe at him again. He quickly sidestepped and grabbed the scythe before pulling it back, throwing her to the ground.

While she was picking herself up, Adam shot out a bloody hand causing his sword to fly into his hand. He delivered a powerful downward strike just as Ruby raised her scythe, creating sparks as the weapons collided.

"So, the rose has thorns," Adam said leaning in to scowl at Ruby through his mask. "You have this deadly weapon, but you refuse to utilize the blade."

"Unlike you, I don't kill," Ruby told him, gritting her teeth as she pushed off her knees to stand firm.

"Now that is a lie," he said with a smirk, "you may not kill right now, but you have before. I recognize that look in your eye… the look of a killer."

"You're wrong, I am not a killer."

"Then that's the difference between you and me. I will not hesitate to kill those required to complete my goal," he said turning his head to look over to Weiss as she was picking herself off the ground, wiping blood from her forehead while she headed for her rapier, "starting with her. You try to stand in my way, but the only way you can hope to stop me is to kill me."

"You will not touch her," Ruby said as she scowled back at him. "I will stop you, but I won't kill you.

"Then you will lose," he said with a smirk. "First, I will kill her, then Blake, and even that sister of yours. I can't kill you, but that doesn't mean I can't make you watch." She immediately pushed back against Adam's sword and pushed him back several feet. Glaring at him, Ruby slowly turned her scythe around so the blade was facing forward.

In an instant, Ruby appeared in front of Adam before he could react and stabbed him in the leg with her scythe. She pulled her scythe free before shoulder bashing him back a few more feet. Then she slashed at his chest, but he dodged at the last second, having the blade lightly drag across his chest.

Weiss jumped in and kicked Adam in the back throwing him closer to Ruby, forcing him to block the scythe with his sword. He twisted around in order to redirect the rapier into the ground before spinning back and jumping to avoid the scythe. While he was in the air, he shot out his foot to kick Ruby in the side of her head causing her to stumble.

As he landed on the ground, he slashed at Weiss, scraping his sword against her chainmail and knocking her back. Using this breathing room, Adam quickly wiped more blood against his sword causing flames to coat the blade. He then ran at Weiss, slashing at her chest, only to have the blade bounce off her chest piece.

Weiss regained her footing just in time to raise her shield just in time to block several attacks that each left deep cuts in her shield. He immediately thrusted his blade forward, stabbing into the shield and causing it to shatter before his sword bounced off her bracer underneath. Adam then slammed his sword into her chest knocking her back into the ground.

Placing his foot on her chest, he raised the red sword above his head before turning it so the tip of the blade was aimed at Weiss's neck as the flames died down. "Goodbye, Ms. Schnee."

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Ruby roared at him as she launched herself at Adam.

In an instant, Ruby stopped mid-air before she could swing her scythe at him. She started breathing heavily as she let go of her scythe. Then she looked down and saw Adam's sword impaled in her abdomen.

"Gah!" she shouted, reaching down grab his sword, trying to pull the blade out. She began kicking her feet to try and push back only to realize Adam was holding her above the ground.

"Ruby!" Weiss shouted as she tried to get off the ground only to have Adam push her further into the ground.

"Quit struggling," Adam told Ruby as he twisted the blade slightly causing her to shout in pain even more. "This wound isn't life threatening, but it will keep you docile until you're delivered to Cinder."

"No," Ruby said as she let go of the sword and reached up, grabbing his horns. "You aren't taking me anywhere." Ruby then pulled as hard as she could on his horns before slamming her forehead into his mask. She suddenly felt her left arm pull back from Adam's horn breaking off.

"Son of a bitch!" Adam shouted as he let go of his sword, dropping Ruby as he reached up to hold the stub on his head. He then looked up at Ruby with a death glare, allowing her to see the left side of his mask was cracked. "If you wanted my horn so badly, then I might as well give it to you!" He curled down a bit and shot forward stabbing his remaining horn into her right arm under her bracers. Then he lifted her off the ground by her arm before flipping her over his head, slamming her into the ground.

"No!" Weiss shouted as she gripped her sword tightly. She suddenly felt her left hand move on its own, cutting through the air on her side. As the blade passed through the air, it left a white line of light from the sword's path before opening into a large circle.

A large armored arm suddenly shot out and punched Adam in the chest throwing him off of Weiss and away from Ruby. Its fist then opened causing light to appear in front of it before the light formed into a giant sword. As Adam saw the sword in its hand, he outstretched his bloodied hand causing his sword to fly out of Ruby and back into his hand.

Weiss let go of her rapier and ran over to Ruby and started picking her off the ground. "Weiss, what did you do?" Ruby asked her as she tried picking herself up only to fall to one knee and clutch her wound.

"I don't know what I did, but I think I summoned that arm," Weiss told her as she started carrying Ruby towards the castle.

"This really hurts," Ruby said as she removed her hand from the wound slightly to see her blood on her gauntlet.

"I know it hurts, but just hold on for a little bit, I'm taking you somewhere safer," she said as she held her hand over Ruby's wound before focusing healing magic into the area.

Ruby looked back and saw the arm fighting off Adam, but as soon as Weiss focused more healing magic into her, the arm started to flicker. "Weiss, stop healing me," Ruby told her as she pushed Weiss's hand aside. "I don't think you can have that summoned thing here and heal me at the same time."

"Then we'll let the arm disappear," Weiss said as she tried moving her hand back, but Ruby stopped her. "I'm not letting you die here."

"I'm not going to die," she told her, placing a hand on Weiss's shoulder. "You heard Adam, this wound isn't fatal. If that arm can hold him off, then we need to use it as much as we can. I still have my dagger, I can still fight him, even if my arm is damaged."

Weiss was silent as she looked over Ruby before turning to Adam, seeing him fighting off the floating arm. "Fine, but if you get hurt more, you go back to the castle and let me handle him."

"Ooh, someone's taking initiative," Ruby said with a smirk before kissing Weiss's forehead, "I like it."

"Is now really the time?" Weiss asked her.

"Well, any time is a good time, and seeing as we're facing off against a person who could more than likely kill us," Ruby said letting go of Weiss, standing on her own, "I think we can get away with a kiss or two." Weiss ran ahead as Ruby pulled the dagger from her boot. Weiss grabbed her rapier before running around Adam and the arm while Ruby started making her way to them.

Weiss quickly let off a flurry of strikes that stabbed him in the back several times. Adam sidestepped in time to dodge the large sword, then redirect Weiss's rapier off to the side before kicking her hand, disarming her. He then jumped away for a moment to sheathe his sword for a moment before drawing it and with two slower strikes he cut the floating arm into three separate pieces.

As the arm started to fade away, Ruby bolted through the light with her dagger, stabbing Adam in his other leg. Before she could pull her dagger free, he quickly kneed her in the chest before kicking her abdomen wound, throwing her down to the ground. He then pulled the dagger from his leg before throwing it into her leg.

As Weiss pulled her magic hilt off her belt before creating a rapier blade. She then charged forward and locked blades with Adam before he could attack Ruby again. As their swords connected, Weiss noticed that the glowing red sword started to let off steam where their weapons touched and the glow started to flicker.

Ruby clutched her wound as she started crawling away from Adam. In front of her, she saw Weiss's rapier laying on the ground. She reached over and gripped the hilt, feeling the cold from the crystal on her hand. Propping herself onto one knee, she looked up at Weiss fighting Adam.

Adam pulled his sword back causing the sword's glow to return before he swung the blade at Weiss. She immediately noticed that his strikes were slower than before, most likely due to his injuries he sustained from the battle. Easily tilting her weapon down, she managed to parry his attack before countering with a stab to his left shoulder.

She was about to strike his chest, but he held up his hand in front of the blade, allowing it to stab through his palm all the way to the hilt. Adam then closed his hand over Weiss's hilt before ripping the artifact from her hand. Once the hilt left her hand, the blade disappeared and he threw it off into the courtyard.

Kicking her to the ground, Weiss landed near Ruby's scythe. Adam started walking over, his injuries looking more obvious from constant limping and blood pouring from his wounds with every step. As he neared Weiss, he raised his sword above his head, preparing for a downwards strike.

"You are becoming much more of a pain than I originally thought you would," Adam told her, blood spattering on her face with every word. "But it only makes it that much sweeter when I kill-"

He was suddenly cut off as Weiss's rapier blade emerged from his chest. She looked past him and saw Ruby standing there with both hands on the hilt, twisting the blade into Adam's back. Weiss quickly turned around and picked up Ruby's scythe with both hands before standing up.

"This… is for my mother!" Weiss shouted at him as she put as much strength as she could into swinging the oversized weapon in her hands. The scythe's blade caught Adam in the neck before cutting all the way through.

It was silent as they heard his head thump on the ground, moments later followed by his body. They then looked over to Adam's sword and watched as the weapon's glow flickered before dying out.

"It… it's over," Weiss said, letting go of Crescent Rose. She then looked up to Ruby with a smile. "It's finally over."

* * *

 **WHOO! IT'S FINALLY OVER! This is the end of the Siege Arc. Now we get to deal with the aftermath. Though, as per usual, I might go back in and fix any mistakes I find in this chapter. Feel free to point them out in reviews.**

 **So yeah, this one heavily involved Qrow. I liked it, I mean, Qrow is my favorite character. He got to do some cool stuff, be a protective father, and crack some jokes. Something I didn't like in the show was that Qrow didn't do too much in the show with his weapon in scythe form, so I had to get creative.**

 **Ironwood kind of got his ass kicked, but a fall from an incredibly high height wouldn't kill that badass. I know I didn't exactly meet my death quota for this chapter, but I don't need to, and probably won't kill off a lot of people in later chapters. Anyway, Ironwood is awesome and not dead.**

 **Sienna Khan is in this story officially, even though she is kind of (Spoiler...?) dead in the show. Trust me... I have a plan for her.**

 **Weiss got to do some summoning magic. Originally, I was planning on having her summon the whole guardian statue from that dungeon, but then I remembered that in the show she was only able to summon the knight's arm.**

 **Ruby kind of got her butt kicked... and stabbed... and stabbed again, but I don't know, it seems like a curse put on her by the bad luck deity J'vana. i mean, Ruby would rather get herself hurt before she would let Weiss get injured.**

 **Adam must've had some impressive willpower. He kept fighting after getting stabbed, his horn ripped off, and stabbed even more. I thought his death was pretty good, I mean, Weiss finally got her revenge and both she and Weiss used each other's weapons in the end. I was going to have a whole section about where Weiss and Ruby both fenced against him, but in all honesty, I was getting tired. I know Tired Van is decent at writing, but he's also mean to Ruby, and she kind of was pretty beaten up already.**

 **No character went into a rage mode! Technically that is correct. Ruby turning her blade might be considered a rage mode, but I think it was more of a 'do what needs to be done' sort of mode to protect her friends. Weiss sort of had one, but that was more of like a mini-surge to summon the arm. I also kind of wanted Ruby to cut off his arm, but that seemed a bit too violent for her.**

 **Anyway, I should be finishing up now. I plan on making the chapters back to around their original size so I can update normally. Hopefully I can post next Sunday, but next week is also Halloween, so I'm planning on writing an All Grimm's Eve chapter for that too. So my week might be a bit busy if I decide to write a chapter and the Halloween one.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	64. Healing and Knighting

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. I'm actually posting this within a week of the other one, surprisingly. Also, I'm surprised this chapter is this long. I guess i'm either really used to drawing things out, or just need to cover a lot in a single chapter. Hopefully I can get back to the old style of updating with like 3,000 to 4,000 words per chapter.**

 **Anyway, this is the first of two chapters involving the aftermath before I do a sort of time skip. So I hope you guys understand how much I needed to cover.**

 **So, let's just start off with the reviews:**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Yeah, she did, but that might've been Tired Van's influence on the chapter. They didn't really have a group of NPCs with them, so I couldn't get creative with deaths, but I also don't want to do that a lot because my mind gets to some pretty dark places that scares me sometimes. Limb losing possibility isn't for a while. Of course it's not over, Cinder's still very much alive and Salem has her own plans. I will try to stay positive.**

 **metalcorpse: Writing his death scene made me happy.**

 **Yakosh: There is more Qrow in the future! If I was going to cut off someone's arm, it's going to be violent, like 'Ruby slashed Adam cross the chest, the blade cutting deep, spraying blood on the grass. She then seemed to vanish before reappearing behind him, hooking under his right arm with her scythe. In one powerful movement, she pulled her scythe upwards, cutting through bone, causing the bull faunus's arm to fall to the ground.' Not as descriptive as I'd like, but I just came up with that. The nevermore they rode was supposed to be a much larger one than the ones Weiss took down easily, so the idea was they'd take a lot to kill, but writing is different than animation at showing how tough a creature is. Also, the screech is ridiculous, but I wanted to make a cool thing. I was going to have a thing where Weiss noticed blood come from Ruby's ears after the screech was over.**

 **Rwby Arc: If Ruby is going to be caught, it's going to be a lot different than 'Adam found you, now you're Cinder's!"**

 **KightMayo: Yeah, I don't exactly like whiny characters, so when I have to write them, it annoys the hell out of me. Also, JAune is one of my favorite characters.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Ow," Ruby complained as she and Weiss made their way over to the castle. "You know, I could've walked on my own."

"I know you can walk just fine, but you're still injured," Weiss said as she placed her hand against Ruby's wound, focusing her healing magic onto that point. "Honestly, your entire body is going to be covered in scars at this rate."

"But you will still love me," Ruby said as she rested her head on Weiss's shoulder.

"That is beside the point," she scolded her. "I just don't want you to die."

"Come on, it'll take a lot more than that to kill me," she said, raising her right hand to give a thumbs-up before the wound on her forearm shot pain to her hand. "Ow."

"It might take more to kill you, but I'm just worried about if it were to happen."

"I'm not going to die, after all, you'll be by my side," she said as she stopped feeling pain from her abdomen. "You can remove your hand. I'm better now."

"No, I like it here," she told her with a smirk as she pressed her hand down further.

"Maybe we can continue this later, I mean, my leg is still bleeding a bit, my arm has that wound from Adam's horn, and Uncle Qrow is still- Uncle Qrow!" Ruby suddenly shouted as she let go of Weiss before trying to run back to the castle, only to trip and fall on her face.

"You know, if your leg got stabbed, you should probably try not running," she heard a familiar voice shout at her. Once she looked up, she saw Qrow leaning against the castle wall near the rubble, pressing a bloodstained cloth against his chest. "Just a suggestion."

"Uncle Qrow, you're okay," she said, looking up at him with a smile as Weiss ran over and picked her up.

"I'm not exactly 'okay,' but I'll be fine as soon as the princess here heals me," he said as Weiss carried her over to the castle wall, setting Ruby down next to Qrow. "You got a sword in the stomach with a wound that wouldn't kill a wounded child. I got a sword through the chest and you don't see me complain about it."

"I'm sure saying, 'What I wouldn't do for a drink. Why can't I just get one last drink before I go?' over and over, constitutes as complaining," Ironwood told them as he moved a large piece of rubble from the front of the castle.

"And how the hell did you live from being dropped at that height?" Qrow asked him as he looked over to the commander. "Your armor's barely even dented."

"I have a good blacksmith," he said as he moved another piece of rubble. "It would also seem that the battle is over. With Taurus being dead, he couldn't control the grimm. The grimm shortly after either ran off or attacked anyone nearby, including the White Fang."

"So, then it was us who stopped the war," Weiss said as her healing magic started being poured into Qrow's wound.

"That wasn't a war, it was a decent attempt to siege the fort though," Ironwood told them as he sat down on another piece of rubble, visibly out of breath. "Good thing Miss Rose here killed Taurus."

Weiss immediately sent a blast of white light that hit Qrow's chest, healing both his chest and leg, but knocking the wind out of him before she turned to Ruby. "Wow that hurts," he said trying to catch his breath before muttering, "and I thought your magic was supposed to numb the pain before it heals."

"It-It wasn't me," Ruby sputtered while waving her hands in front of herself before the wound on her right arm forced her to lower it. "Ow."

"I know, I saw the whole thing as I came from the nearby tunnels," he said looking up at them, "Miss Schnee killed Taurus using your weapon, but I have not forgotten your desires to become a castle guard. While it may seem like a good idea to declare that the princess killed the leader of the White Fang, it would only increase the size of the target on her back."

"But if Ruby became a knight, then it could be announced that some knight did the deed," Qrow interjected as the girls looked to each other. "I'm also sure the king wouldn't pass up this opportunity to reward the person who killed the man who murdered his wife."

"He might even award you the rank of Elite Knight, after my recommendation, of course. It also was your weapon that killed him, so very few people would argue with that story," Ironwood interjected as he tried to straighten out a piece of his armor.

"That's great, but I only would want to be a castle guard," Ruby said as she moved her left hand to press against the stab wound on her arm while Weiss began healing her leg. "If I wanted to be an elite knight, then I would want to earn it, not just have it given to me."

"You have potential," Ironwood said as he stood back up from his break. "I don't want to see it squandered, but earning your rank by your own merits is honorable."

"Except that you are kind of being given the position of a castle guard," Qrow pointed out to her, "but you have your own reasons for that, so I can understand."

"Qrow, you and I both know that since Ruby is from Vale, the likelihood of her becoming a Knight of Atlas is very small unless she were to be formally recognized by the king for her deeds. Also, the fact she's the daughter of two elite knights might influence the king's decision."

"Well, actually, my dad never really became a knight," Ruby said causing Ironwood to shoot Qrow a quick look. "He was on a team with knights, but he was just the blacksmith."

"Right…" he said, raising an eyebrow before looking away from Qrow. "Well, you are the daughter of an elite knight, and you were trained by another one. I'm sure Jacques would see that you have enough potential to become a castle guard."

"Hey, Ruby," Qrow said to get her attention, "you and Weiss should probably head down a few levels and look for Yang and the others. Jimmy and I can handle this rubble. There's not much you two can do here, and it would also give us some time to speak with the king."

"Yes, that's probably a good idea," Ironwood interjected as he removed another piece of rubble from the door. "Go on ahead."

"O-Ok," Ruby said as her leg finished healing. "I guess we should probably find the others."

"I'm sure Yang got a couple scrapes from her fight," Weiss said as she helped Ruby to her feet. "Jaune and the others were also on the front lines, so I'm guessing they might have a couple injuries I can heal."

As Weiss and Ruby made their way across the courtyard, Ironwood turned to Qrow. "So, I'm guessing she doesn't know she's your daughter," he said as the reaper slowly stood up.

"No, she doesn't, and I intend to keep it that way for now," he told him as he approached the large pile of rubble.

"And are you fine with your daughter becoming a castle guard?"

"Trust me, I'm fine with it, and it's what she wants," he said as he grabbed a nearby piece of rubble then smirked. "All I want is to make her happy."

* * *

"Blake, let me go," Yang said as she tried to push past the faunus only to cringe as she bumped her shoulder. "I need to find Ruby."

"You heard the healers, you can't leave here until they heal your shoulders," Blake told her as she grabbed Yang's arm to pull her back, forcing the blonde to cringe as her arm was moved. "I'm sure she's fine, she's with Weiss."

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Ren said as he and Nora approached the girls while putting on his shirt, the bandages on his chest clearly exposed showing them the horizontal bloodstain. "You two obtained some wounds while behind the enemy lines, and Jaune got hurt pretty bad while fighting on the front lines."

"But Ruby and Weiss were on the wall," Yang said as she turned to Ren, about to grab his shirt only to have the slings impede her movement. "If what you and Nora said was true, then they might've been hurt when the White Fang took over the first level."

"Ms. Xiao Long, please sit dow-" one of the healers said to her before she turned to them, her hair immediately erupting in flames.

"She's my sister!" Yang shouted at them as the doors to the infirmary were suddenly thrown open.

"Yang!" a familiar voice shouted as the group suddenly turned towards the door, only to see a red blur shoot past them at Yang. The blur slowed down just in time to see Ruby jump at her sister and wrap her arms around Yang's neck into a hug. "You're okay!"

"Ruby!" Yang exclaimed as she smiled for a moment before pain shot from her shoulders. "Ruby, I may look fine, but can you please let go of me?"

"What?" Ruby asked then looked over, seeing Yang's bandaged shoulders, and gasped before jumping off her sister. "Sorry, sorry, I was just so happy to see you."

"I'm happy to see you, too," she said as she leaned over and rested her forehead on Ruby's, giving her a warm smile before pulling her head back. "Where were you guys, and where's Weiss?"

"Ruby!" Weiss shouted between breaths as she suddenly collided into the doorframe from the street. "Your leg just healed, don't go running off like that!"

"What is she talking about?" Yang asked as she looked down at her sister, having the shadows cover her eyes to give off an intimidating aura.

"Well, uhh, you see," Ruby said, pressing her pointer fingers against each other while looking away from Yang. "We _kinda_ got into a fight with Adam Taurus."

"What!?" she shouted then looked over Ruby, seeing several bloodstains on her armor and a cut through her chainmail below her chestpiece. "Did he do this to you? I'll kill him!"

"He's dead," Weiss immediately interjected as she walked over to them.

"You guys killed him? How?" Blake asked them, keeping her voice low. "We fought him and barely made it out alive."

"He was pretty injured when we fought him, and Qrow helped us out a lot," Ruby told her as she rubbed her right arm. "He stabbed Qrow… and me, but we managed to stop him."

"So, who killed him then?" Ren asked as the group formed a circle near the corner of the infirmary.

"I killed him," Weiss told them, "but in order to keep a target off of me and to help Ruby become a knight, we've agreed to say she did it."

"And you're fine with lying?" Yang asked turning to Ruby, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I know you don't kill, but if you do this, you'll be known for killing the leader of the White Fang."

"I'm-I'm fine with it," she told her, lowering her head slightly. "If it means I can stay with Weiss, then I don't mind."

Ren then cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention. "Ruby, Weiss, I hope you don't mind me asking, but are you two… together?" he asked, immediately causing Ruby, Yang, and Weiss to look shocked from the question.

"Umm, well, it's just that, we kinda…" Ruby trailed off as her cheeks started to heat up before she felt Weiss reach over and grab her hand. When she looked up, she saw Weiss nod her head and give her a smile. "We have been for a while, since before we left Vale. We've been trying to keep it a secret, so can you guys-"

"Oh my god! This is amazing!" Nora exclaimed as she jumped over and hugged the couple. "We need to tell Pyrrha and Jaune!"

"Nora, keep it down," Ren said as he grabbed the back of Nora's shirt and pulled her off Ruby and Weiss. "They want to keep their relationship a secret, so I don't think shouting it in a small building will help."

"Right, hehe, keeping quiet," Nora said as she sat down on a nearby stool, trying to stay quiet, but some happy squeals escaped from her giant smile.

"I'll take her outside," Ren said as she helped Nora to her feet and started taking her towards the exit. "Maybe we can burn off her extra energy before she shouts the news to the whole fortress."

"Thank you," Weiss said as Ren and Nora left the building, giving her a nod before the door closed. She then turned to Yang and Blake. "Where are Jaune and Pyrrha?"

"Well," Blake said as she turned around, causing Ruby and Weiss to look in that direction. Several beds down, they saw Pyrrha sitting next to a bed where Jaune was unconscious, with several healers tending to the wounds on his chest. "I didn't get all the details, but apparently Jaune fought off a large group of enemies before a beowolf managed to claw into his chest and rip off his armor."

"Oh no, is he going to be ok?" Ruby gasped before looking over to Weiss. "Can you heal him?"

"That's probably not a good idea," Blake interjected before Weiss could answer. "He's had several different mages tend to his wounds, and I overheard one mention that too many different types of healing magic can have a negative effect on the body."

"So, we have to wait until the healers finish working on him," Weiss said then turned to Yang. "Have you been treated yet? I've used up a lot of my magic power today, but I can probably heal you."

"I haven't seen the healers, but some medics did bandage me up," Yang said as she turned her head to gesture towards her shoulders.

"Right, have a seat," she said, pointing to a nearby chair.

* * *

"Just one more pull," Ironwood grunted as he and Qrow moved the last remaining piece of rubble from the castle doors to create a man-sized hole in the pile of rubble.

"Identify yourself!" they heard Jacques shout from the inside of the building.

"Commander Ironwood and the Scarecrow," he responded.

"Come inside," Jacques told them. Once the two entered the castle they watched a large number of the guard exit through the hole and begin moving remaining rubble. "Status report?"

"The battle is over," Ironwood answered him. "The White Fang has left the fortress and the grimm army is no longer being affected by Adam Taurus's magic."

"And what of Taurus?"

"We should probably go somewhere more private," Qrow suggested as he looked over the room, seeing Winter and Whitely, along with the remaining castle guard standing in the room. Looking closer, he could see that a large portion of the room was cracked just from the impact of the grimm earlier.

"Very well," he said, turning around and headed towards the war room, gesturing for them to follow. After the door closed behind them, Jacques walked over to the table. "So, what happened to Adam Taurus?"

"He's dead," Qrow told him causing the king to turn towards them.

Jacques chuckled. "Good, very good, and who was the knight that killed the bastard?"

"That's why we asked you to come here?" Ironwood said causing him to raise an eyebrow in confusion. "The one who killed Adam Taurus wasn't one of your knights, it was your daughter's friend, Ruby Rose."

"Where is she?" he asked, looking at them. "She must be rewarded properly."

"She's with her sister right now," Qrow answered him, "but we needed to talk with you."

"Ruby Rose has expressed her desires to become a castle knight, and I have been testing her before the siege began to see if she had the skill for it," Ironwood told him as he pulled a few papers from a nearby drawer. "She has defeated Gordon Dumas, the Yellow Bolt, in a sparring contest, and she even killed Adam Taurus. She has room to improve, but I believe she could make a valuable addition to the castle guard."

"I see, but a castle guard?" Jacques asked as he sat down on the nearby chair, resting his elbows on the table and bringing his hands up to his chin. "That is highly unusual, and we only promote the best to the castle."

"Her talent would be wasted as a regular knight," Qrow interjected, catching Jacques's attention. "She's the daughter of Summer Rose, an Elite Knight of Vale known as the Rose's Thorn, and she's been trained personally by me. If you truly want the best, then you want her."

"I'll have to think about it," he said motioning for them to leave. "I need to be alone for a while. Ironwood, tend to your troops and get started on the reconstruction."

"Very well, sir," Ironwood said then motioned for Qrow to follow. "Come on."

"Fine, but I'm not fixing any buildings," Qrow said as he followed Ironwood out of the war room.

* * *

"Alright, that feels much better," Yang said as she took her arms out of their slings and flexed for a moment before lowering them, "still sore though."

"How did this even happen to you?" Weiss asked as she had to sit down from using too much of her magic. "You wear armor that covers your shoulders."

Yang turned to them and rubbed her right shoulder. "We originally fought Adam, but we had to fight Cinder Fall and her demon," she explained causing Ruby to immediately look at her, scared. "She's powerful, and she knows chaos pyromancy like me. I barely managed to hold her off, but she dismantled my armor and shot my shoulders with her arrows."

"How did you manage to get out of there?" Ruby asked, reaching over to hold Yang's arm.

"I… barely remember what happened," Yang said as she looked over to Blake. "I don't think it matters all that much."

"What matters is that we made it out alive," Blake interjected as she looked over to the remaining White Fang deserters. "Cinder and her demon were powerful adversaries, but we lived."

"What about Cinder?" Ruby asked them. "Is there a chance she will attack us again."

"She left," Yang said as she looked away from Ruby. "I don't think she will attack us right now. She doesn't have the White Fang anymore, so it wouldn't make sense for her to directly attack the castle and she couldn't just walk in through the front gate."

Ruby and Weiss breathed a sigh of relief then saw Ren and Nora enter the infirmary. "Is she fine now?" Weiss asked him as they two approached.

"Yes, she's calmed down," Ren said before Nora walked in front of him.

"I ran down to the front gate then back!" Nora exclaimed raising her hand in the air before looking past the others. "Jaune's awake!"

"What?" Ren asked as they ran over to Jaune's bed.

Once they approached Jaune's bed, they could see several fresh large scars had formed on his chest that had an unnaturally pink color due to the rapid healing. The medics finished wrapping his arms in a series of bandages just before he was crowded. They then saw that Pyrrha was holding his arm with a concerned look on her face that snapped back to normal when she noticed the others approach.

"Hey guys," Jaune managed to greet them in a raspy voice. "Is the battle over?"

"Yes, it is," Yang told him with a grin as she lightly punched his arm. "You four held off the White Fang and stopped them from getting to the second level. You're a little hero."

"Oh, come on, I didn't do anything," he said looking away from them. "All I did was get myself beat up."

"You got yourself beat up fighting off the White Fang and grimm while the rest of us fought one massive grimm," Pyrrha told him as she squeezed Jaune's arm a little bit harder. "Though, while you were fighting them, they did not gain any ground. You were an impossible wall for them to overcome."

"Look, I know you guys are trying to make me feel better, but I know I'm not that good of a fighter," he said then turned to Pyrrha. "A while ago you offered to train me to become a better fighter. I know a lot has happened, but is that offer still available?"

"Of course it is," she told him, giving him a comforting smile. "Now, you focus on getting better."

"Yes, we can't let the Impossible Wall of Arc stay injured," a familiar voice said causing the others to turn around and see Qrow standing there, taking a drink from his flask.

"Oh, please don't tell me that nickname is going to be a thing?" Jaune asked as he moved a hand up to cover his eyes.

"I'm sorry," Pyrrha said as she let go of Jaune's arm.

"Uncle Qrow!" Yang exclaimed as she ran up and hugged him.

"Hey, kid, how's it been?" he asked as she ruffled the blonde's hair, much to her dismay.

"We fought Cinder and her demon, but we held her off."

"I'm surprised, a Witch of the Wilds is not a person to be trifled with," he said as he looked her over. "How are the shoulders?"

"Better than they were," she told him then looked him in the eyes. "Actually, I need to speak with you."

"Really? You actually want to speak with me? This better not be a challenge to a drinking contest," he said as he raised an eyebrow at her with a smirk.

"No, this is for something else," she said as she grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the building.

"What was that about?" Nora asked causing the others to shrug, except for Blake, who only looked concerned.

* * *

"Ok, so what is this about?" Qrow asked as Yang led him behind the infirmary building. "I won't share any of my-"

"Qrow, this isn't about your alcohol," she told him as she looked down slightly, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "I… saw her today. I saw my mom."

"Oh, so she finally decided to show up," he said then took a quick drink. "Did she say anything?"

"No, she showed up before Cinder could kill me. She appeared out of nowhere and carried this big sword," Yang told him, describing the situation. "Cinder immediately ran off and next thing I knew, I woke up in the infirmary."

"Well, that's not unexpected," he said causing her to immediately look up at him. "She may be keeping her distance from you, and doing a damn fine job of doing it, but she wouldn't let you die. You two may be estranged, but you're still her daughter." Qrow was silent as he watched a small smile form on her face. "So, is that all you wanted to talk with me about?" he asked as he started to walk past her.

"Not quite." He immediately stopped and looked back at her a little confused. "Back in the forest, before Raven saved me, Cinder told me that I have demon blood in my veins. Then once I got mad enough, I… changed. I wasn't myself, I was… just filled with rage," she said as her hands started to shake. "It was scary, and I couldn't-"

"Stop," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I understand. It's always scary when a person with demon blood falls into a blood rage for the first time. They become more powerful, but all that they can think of is to kill. I'm sorry you had to find out this way, you should've known years ago."

She fell to her knees, her body beginning to shiver, and tears formed around her eyes. "After I came out of that… blood rage, I just felt so cold, so afraid."

"Hey, don't worry," he said as he crouched over and began to stroke her hair. "You're fine now."

* * *

"Wow, that hurts!" Jaune exclaimed as he sat up on his bed, exposing the scars on his back to the others as they tried to catch him if he fell.

"I don't think you're supposed to be getting up at this point," Ruby said as she placed a hand on his shoulder to try and push him down. "You should rest."

"I'm fine," he said as he swatted Ruby's hand away. "Right now, I'm healed enough that I can leave, and I'm sure they could use the beds here."

"It probably would be a good idea for us to leave," Weiss said as she looked around for Blake, seeing her talk with the White Fang deserters before turning back to the others. "The healers need room that we are currently occupying, and there are still more injured soldiers left to tend to. We should probably head back to the fifth level and stay in the guest quarters."

"Right," Jaune said as he slowly put on his shirt then looked down to his armor and weapons. "Uhh, I'd hate to ask this, but can someone carry my things? I can't really hold things right now."

"I'll do it," Pyrrha told him as she secured her weapons to her back and then picked up Jaune's items before placing them in a bag. "Come on, let's go."

"Blake, we're leaving," Ruby called out to the faunus as the group started to leave the building. Blake's ear twitched underneath her bow before she looked at them and nodded. She then said her goodbyes to the White Fang deserters before running after the others.

Just before the group exited the building, the doors suddenly opened to reveal Yang and Qrow about to enter. "What's going on?" Yang asked them as they left the building. "Should Jaune be moving?"

"I'll be fine," Jaune told her as he turned to her. "We're just heading to the fifth level since the healers need the space."

"Makes sense," Qrow said as he began to trail after the others, putting his hands in his pockets and hunching over slightly. "Also, I'm sure something important is going to happen when we get up there."

"What are you talking about, Uncle Qrow?" Yang asked as she looked up at the man.

"You'll see," he said with a smirk.

* * *

As the group reached the fifth level, it was already dusk. They then noticed that a large group of knights were already starting repairs on the castle's entrance, leaving enough room in the middle for people to enter and exit the building. They were about to head to the side towards the guest quarters, but Qrow quickly went in front of them and gestured towards the castle.

After they passed through the entranced, they all could see the large cracks scattered throughout the room. On the sides of the hall, there were several knights standing guard and holding torches. At the end of the hall, the group could see Jacques wearing a sapphire encrusted silver crown and sitting on his throne surrounded by Winter and Whitley, along with his advisors.

"Approach," Jacques commanded. The eight immediately started walking towards the throne while Qrow stayed near the entrance. The king then raised his hand, motioning for them to stop before they came too close. "The Siege of Fort Mantle is over. Many of the Atlesian soldiers perished in the defense of the Kingdom of Atlas against the armies of the White Fang, but you eight went above and beyond the call of duty." He stood up and started walking over to them.

"Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna, you two recruited several of the White Fang deserters in an attempt to assassinate Adam Taurus. While you failed in that regard, you fought off a dangerous witch capable of summoning demons that would have devastated the fortress," he said walking in front of the two. Then he moved to Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha. "Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, and Pyrrha Nikos. The four of you fought on the front lines and after the wall had been breached, risked your lives to hold off the White Fang horde. The six of you shall be properly rewarded. Visit my steward for your reward before you leave Fort Mantle."

"Thank you, Your Highness," the six of them said, bowing slightly, except for Jaune who couldn't bend without pain.

"Weiss," he said causing a small sense of fear to wash over her as she saw his judgmental expression. "You completely disobeyed my order to stay in the castle and went down to the first level. While I do not personally condone disobeying my orders, you used your magic to save the lives of many Atlesian Knights. Good work."

"Thank you, father," Weiss said, feeling somewhat relived, but slightly unnerved at his judgmental glare.

His expression softened as he turned to face Ruby. "Ruby Rose. Not only did you save my daughter initially and brought her here on your own accord protecting her the entire time. For that you have my eternal thanks," he said and walked forward to give Ruby a hug that caused the entire room to become quiet, "but you deserve so much more than that. You killed Adam Taurus, the leader of the White Fang and the man who killed the Queen of Atlas. For that, you deserve a much better reward than simply money. I have understood you wish to become an Atlesian Knight, is that correct?"

"Yes, Your Highness," Ruby said as she looked up at Jacques.

"Very well then. Please kneel."

Ruby and Weiss immediately smiled as the younger girl slowly lowered herself to one knee, keeping her head bowed to Jacques. Several others around the room suddenly gasped at what they realized was going to happen. Qrow let out a short laugh from the back of the room as he opened his flask and took a drink.

"I do not like ceremony, but in this situation, certain words must be spoken," Jacques said then drew a longsword with a large sapphire placed in the pommel. "Do you, Ruby Rose, on this day, pledge your loyalty to Atlas and stand as a Knight of the Atlesian Kingdom?"

"Yes, Your Highness," she responded, keeping her head lowered.

"Then by my power as the King of Atlas," he said placing the flat end of his sword against her shoulders, "I hereby dub thee, Ser Ruby Rose. May you live long in the service of the Atlesian Knights."

* * *

"So, you're a knight now," Jaune said to Ruby as the eight of them entered the guest quarters and sat down around the room's table. "I can't say that I expected that."

"I was really hoping that I would happen," she replied as she reached over to hold Weiss's hand under the table. "The ceremony seemed a bit tense."

"That was not tense," Pyrrha told her causing everyone to look at the other knight. "My own knighting ceremony took over three hours where I had to recite the entire knight's code from memory."

"Though, I'm pretty sure the king did not hug you before it happened," Yang said to her before turning to her sister. "What was it like to be hugged by the king?"

"To be honest, it was… extremely awkward," Ruby said as her face turned a shade of red from embarrassment. "Everyone's eyes were on me and I couldn't move. The hug itself was uncomfortable, like that was the fifth hug he's ever given anyone, and each of those times were torture."

"Knowing my father, that is probably accurate," Weiss interjected causing everyone around the table to let out a laugh.

* * *

 **Alright, a lot happened in this chapter. So i'm only going to touch up on a few things.**

 **Yang's terrified of her demon blood. Of course she is. Anyone would.**

 **Jaune is getting better. He's not dying, but he has plenty of scars and the new joking nickname, Impossible Wall of Arc, because why not?**

 **Ruby is a knight. Essentially, I needed a reason for Ruby to be in Atlas after the time skip and still be with Weiss. I've been setting it up for a while, but I needed to make it happen.**

 **Qrow gets to be more caring because I like caring people.**

 **Jacques gives out awkward hugs. I mean, does he not look like a person who has ever given someone a hug?**

 **Now then, it's 1:25 in the morning, I am tired as heck, and I have a test tomorrow, so I'm going to post this and go to bed.**

 **Hopefully I can get a Halloween chapter done before Tuesday is over.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	65. The Tables Turn

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the Halloween chapter of The Princess and the Rose. So, same thing as before, this chapter is an AU, so this has no effect on the main story. Also, this chapter is after the previous Halloween one, so it may be useful to go back to chapter 31 and refresh your memory. Basically, no Pyrrha, Ruby and Weiss aren't dating yet, and it's just after Yang scares the bajeezus out of everyone with the jack-o'-lantern head.**

 **Like before, since this chapter came out so soon from the previous one, I won't do reviews.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Yang, you jerk!" Ruby exclaimed as she lightly hit Yang's arm as they both made their way through the forest after she scared off everyone with the carved pumpkin. "Do you even know where we are?"

"Well, I'm guessing that we're somewhere close to the shrine since we haven't been attacked by any grimm," Yang told her as she created a fireball in her hand to light the way. "Other than that, I have no idea where we are."

"Jeez, you were always getting us lost as kids, I'm surprised you even made it back to camp before we did," she said causing Yang to freeze before letting the fireball die in her hand. "When did you have time to carve a pumpkin?"

"I kind of had it done earlier," she told her as she lit another fireball in her hand.

Ruby looked over to her sister and raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, you do know what day it is, right?" Yang asked her as she reached under her cloak.

"Yang, I know what today is, but I told you before we left Patch to not bring it up while we were travelling so we wouldn't bother anyone," she said as she watched her sister dig through her belt pouches.

"Yes, I know you said that, but you always looked forward to your birthday, so I couldn't not celebrate." With a cheeky grin, she pulled out a simple brown bag bound with a red ribbon. "Happy birthday!"

"Yang, you shouldn't have," she exclaimed as she took the bag then hugged her sister. "Really you shouldn't have."

"Hey, let me dote on my little sister," she said as she wrapped her arm around Ruby's shoulders. "Come on, open it."

"I'm not little anymore," Ruby muttered as she undid the ribbon.

"You're always going to be my little sister," she said as she leaned over so she could watch. Ruby's face immediately lit up after she opened the bag to weapon sharpening and maintenance kit. "I know you forgot yours back home after we left, and I also know that Crescent Rose's blade took a beating during the dungeon. The metal it's made from may be stronger than most, but it can still get dull."

"Thank you!" Ruby exclaimed as she jumped onto her sister in a tight hug. "I almost forgot that I needed to sharpen my scythe."

"That's not all there is to the present," Yang said as she pulled another smaller bag from her belt. "It is All Grimm's Eve after all." Ruby eyes sparkled as she opened the smaller bag to see a dozen chocolate chip cookies. She immediately took one and inhaled it. "I was surprised that Redbarrow's bakery was selling treats, especially since chocolate is hard to come by, but apparently the local lord imports it from Vacuo."

"This is the best," Ruby said with a semi-chocolate filled smile.

"Now then, I'm guessing that you're the only one who knows that I'm the pumpkin monster?" she asked getting a quick nod in response as Ruby inhaled another cookie. A sinister smile crept onto her face. "Well, let's make this a night everyone will never forget."

* * *

"I'm telling you, this doesn't seem right," Jaune said as he, Weiss, and Ren crept through the forest, illuminating the path using Weiss's magic. "This area is supposed to be free of monsters."

"No, it's supposed to be free of grimm," Ren corrected him as they entered a small clearing.

"Right, but still, what was that thing?"

"It could have been a headless soldier," Weiss suggested causing them to look at her. "Back in Atlas we have a ghost story about the headless soldier. As it goes, a headless soldier is a spirit that haunts battlefields waiting for the perfect body to inhabit. It apparently favors soldiers that have been decapitated since the least amount of damage was done to their body. The spirit then possesses the body and terrorizes the land, looking for the perfect head to complete itself."

A twig snapped behind them, causing the three to turn around and Jaune let out a little yelp. Weiss and Ren slowly turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "What? It's scary," he said as he took a step back from them.

"And here I thought you supposedly had an immunity to scary things," Weiss said as she rolled her eyes at him.

"Relax, it's just us," Blake said as she and Nora entered the clearing. "We were with Ruby, but she ran ahead of us to chase the… headless soldier."

"I think it should've been called the headless horseman instead," Nora said a she walked over to Ren. "It just rolls off the tongue better."

"There already is a headless horseman, but that's a different legend," Weiss told them as she looked around the clearing.

"So, what should we do now?" Ren asked them as they formed a small circle in the clearing. "We have two options: go and look for Yang and Ruby, or head back to camp."

"I think it would be best just to return to camp," Blake told them. "We don't have any of our weapons and if the headless soldier attacks, we might get hurt."

"What about Ruby and Yang?" Weiss asked her. "Yang is more than well equipped, but Ruby isn't that skilled at fighting without her scythe."

"We don't have much of a choice," Ren interjected, "Our fighting styles are based on the weapons we wield. Without them, we won't stand a chance in a fight."

Another twig snapped in the brush, forcing them to look. With Blake being able to see in the dark, she took several steps forward to try and identify it. A black figure suddenly emerged from the forest and grabbed the front of her shirt. The figure then dragged Blake back in into the forest in an instant before she could see what it was. The others let out surprised yells as they watched Blake suddenly disappear into the forest.

"What the hell was that!? What the hell was that!?" Jaune shouted as he jumped back, colliding with Ren and knocking them both to the ground.

* * *

"Hey, let me go!" Blake shouted as she tried to free herself from her captor. They both stopped in the clearing in front of the old stone shrine. Her captor let go of her before running up to the base of the shrine and removing their black cloak. "Ruby?"

"Yes, Blake, and there was a reason we grabbed you first," Ruby said with a smile as Yang walked from behind the shrine carrying Ruby's cloak and holding a carved pumpkin under her arm. They exchanged cloaks before the younger girl threw hers on.

"Yang? You're the headless soldier?" Blake asked as she approached the two.

"Well, I'm not, and what is a headless soldier?" Yang replied as she secured her cloak to her shoulders.

"It's a ghost story, but that doesn't matter. Why am I here?"

"You can see in the dark, therefore you were a threat to our plan," Yang told her as she and Ruby walked towards the faunus. "Originally, I thought about bringing you back to camp-"

"But then I told her about the weird tentacle thing you used to kidnap Nora," Ruby quickly interjected. "How did you do that anyway?"

"It was a rope that I dyed black, but you still haven't told me why I'm here," Blake said as she was starting to get annoyed.

"Simple, we want to prank the others," Yang said as a mischievous smile grew over her face. "So, are you in, or out?"

* * *

"You don't think she's…" Jaune asked, letting the question trail off. "She's been gone for a while."

"No, she can't die, I mean, it's Blake," Weiss said as she looked between the three others. "It'll take a lot to stop her."

A nearby bush was ruffled causing everyone to look at it. Moments later, Ruby stumbled out of the brush holding her side. As she neared the group they could see she was missing her right gauntlet and bracer and her left boot. On the skin where her armor was supposed to be, the others saw bloodstains. She suddenly fell to the ground, revealing that she was holding the hilt of a dagger.

"Ruby!" Weiss shouted as she ran towards her. Before she could get close to her, a black tentacle shot from the forest and grabbed her wrist. "What the heck?" The tentacle suddenly pulled on her causing the princess to fly into the forest.

"No, they got Weiss too!" Jaune shouted as he was about to run after her, but before he could, the clearing behind them erupted in flames.

"MWAHAHAHA!" Yang laughed from under the pumpkin mask as she walked through the flames. "Yes! Yes! Tonight, I shall be complete!"

"What have you done to our friends?" Jaune demanded as he took a step back from the monster.

"Your friends are now my servants," Yang said, fighting the urge to laugh while trying to keep her voice from changing. "Soon, each of you shall be one as well." She took several steps forward, letting flames fall from her hands before pointing at Jaune. "Except for you. You shall be the one to complete me."

Jaune immediately let out a short scream as he grabbed his neck. He looked to Ren and Nora, and they each nodded at each other before bolting into the forest. Yang waited a few moments before she took off her cloak and started to beat down the flames.

"You can get up now," Yang said as the last of the flames died out. "That was a very convincing performance."

"Well, I didn't have to say anything, so it was easy," Ruby said as she picked herself up and removed the hilt of the dagger from her side to reveal the blade had been broken off. "Can I have my boot back? The ground is cold."

"Get your hand off me!" Weiss shouted as Blake dragged her back into the clearing. She was surprised to see Ruby standing and Yang's eyes under the pumpkin mask now that flames did not obstruct them. "Ruby? Yang?" She then looked up and saw that Blake was the one holding her arm. "What the hell is going on?"

"Simple, we're pranking the others, mostly Nora since the test of courage was her idea," Ruby said as she walked over to Weiss with a mischievous smile that rivaled Yang's. "You in?"

* * *

 **And now we see how those two are really sisters. I figured it would be good to have this chapter take place right after the previous one since I could address Ruby's birthday. There is no way Yang would not find a way to celebrate it.**

 **Blake pretty much said, 'meh, might as well, at least I'm not the one being pranked,' and went along with everything.**

 **I will try to post the next chapter on time, but I make no promises.**

 **I should get this posted soon, otherwise it'll be November.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	66. A Temporary Goodbye

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A with the latest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. This one seemed a bit too rushed in my opinion, but I covered what I needed to cover. I mean, I'm getting pretty tired with the Fort Mantle arc, and I know a lot of you guys probably are too.**

 **So, let's do this quick.**

 **Reviews**

 **Hellwyrm: You see, I actually agree with you about Ruby. Her unwillingness to kill will probably compromise the team. Her childhood trauma did add to it, but she is also supposed to be the optimist where she believes everyone deserves to live. She's not going to change her ways anytime soon.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: It was mostly symbolic, but some rumors will be spread around and one will include that the king hugged her.**

 **Yakosh: I figured I would make the hug as awkward as I possibly could, but I think I could've done better.**

 **iamking: Thank you.**

 **metalcorpse: I actually did pretty decent.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd (Halloween): Yeah, I figured that I wouldn't do anything significant like hint towards other characters, events, or relationships. Kinda like Hellwyrm said, it's kind of like a chibi chapter.**

 **Hellwyrm (Halloween): Hey, last Halloween's chapter ended in a sort of cliffhanger. I do intend to continue the Halloween AU for future Halloween chapters.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"So, Ruby Rose, Knight of Atlas," Qrow said as he walked over to the younger girl sitting alone at the large table in the group's quarters. "What are you doing?"

"Writing a letter to dad," she answered him as she dipped her quill into the inkwell before going back to writing. "I figured I would tell him that I became a knight and that I wouldn't be coming home with Yang."

"Yeah, I'm sure he'd like that," he said as he sat down next to her. "So, just out of curiosity, do you think you'll be able to properly be a knight? I mean, Atlas is a bit stricter about being knights than Vale. When your mother, my sister, and I became knights, we had a lot of freedom to do what we wanted, journeying and whatnot. In Atlas, you will be spending most of your time in the city or at the castle, only going out on special missions."

"I'll manage," she told him as she finished her letter and signed it. "As much as I enjoyed travelling, I think I might enjoy staying in the city."

"Oh yeah, I'll take a bed over sleeping on dirt anyway," he chuckled as he took a spare piece of paper and quill before writing on it. "Your mother didn't seem to care though, she was just happy to be on the road. Surprisingly, her cloak never got dirty when we travelled, despite sometimes sleeping without tents."

"What about my dad?" Ruby asked him. "What was my dad like during your travels."

"Why would you want to know about Tai? Tai's boring," he told her causing Ruby to puff out her cheeks slightly at him. He let out a long sigh before scratching the back of his head. "Alright fine, Tai was never really that great of a fighter, he preferred to use his hands mostly. He was always tinkering on something and hated when my magic caused the thing to break. What annoyed me the most was when he started to flirt my sister-"

"Hey, hey, hey, I don't want to know about that, yuck," she said hitting his shoulder then stuck out her tongue at him.

"Yeah, that was about my reaction when I found out they were together," he chuckled before letting out a brief sigh. "Your father was a brave fighter, and while he often caused problems for the group, he was a valued member to the team. After our travels were over, the most important thing you need to know, is that your father loved Summer, and you."

Ruby's expression deadpanned. "That sounds a bit too 'touchy-feely' for you."

"Hey, I can't be the 'cool uncle' all the time," he said, emphasizing his point by using air quotes. "Also, if anyone else was here, I would never hear the end of this, especially if it was Yang. Actually, where are the others?"

* * *

"So, have you decided for sure if you're coming to Patch for sure or not?" Yang asked as she and Blake entered the infirmary to check on Marcus, Patrick, and Carina.

"I think I have," she told her as they passed by the healers. "There's nothing left for me back in Menagerie, and I never want to go back to the White Fang. It's time that I make a new life for myself, and I might as well do it with a friend."

"Aw, Blake, you're making me blush," Yang said as she wrapped her arm around Blake's shoulders before she felt a quick pain in her shoulder. "Ok, still sore, ow."

"Well, that's what happens when you get shot in the shoulders," Marcus said to her as they both approached them. "I remember having to rip those things out when the woman in red brought us here, then she disappeared."

"Yeah, that sounds like her," Yang muttered to herself as she crossed her arms in front of herself.

"How is Carina?" Blake asked them.

"Well, aside from losing my damn leg, I'm fine," Carina said sitting up on her bed and gesturing to her missing limb. "Healing magic is great and all, but nothing regenerates body parts."

"Is she going to be all right?" Blake asked Marcus, making sure her voice was quiet enough that Carina couldn't hear.

"Nobody is ever the same after losing a limb," Marcus told her. "Patrick and I will stay with her from now on. I heard that the king is giving the three us special pardon and we'll be free to leave once we're ready. Then we just need to find a place to start over."

"I… might know a place," Blake said as she looked over to Yang.

* * *

"Do they still hurt?" Pyrrha asked Jaune as they walked around the fifth level courtyard near the armory.

"Only when I breathe," he replied, trying to make a joke only to turn and see Pyrrha's concerned look. "Okay, so it wasn't funny."

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she said as she pulled him into a hug, burying her face into his shoulder. "I never should have let you come out and help us."

"Hey, hey, it was my choice, alright, my choice," he said as he placed a hand on her back. "I know that you blame yourself for what happened to me, but it wasn't your fault."

"I'm sorry," she repeated as she held him tighter.

"Is that your catchphrase?" he asked her, trying to make a joke again, only causing her to chuckle slightly. "I've been hearing you say that a lot."

"I'm still sorry."

"An apologetic elite knight, how about that. Do you also apologize to your enemies right after you kill them?"

Pyrrha let out a laugh as she let go of him before lightly punching his shoulder. "That's not funny. I'm supposed to be intimidating."

"Yeah, you can be intimidating, but mostly when you're fighting," he said then let out a short sigh before looking her directly in the eyes. "So, I'm not the greatest at asking for help, but what the four of us did during the siege, we were a great team. The only problem was me and my lack of fighting experience."

"Jaune, what are you getting at?"

"Do you remember on the ship when you offered to train me?"

"Yes, and you refused my offer," she replied as she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well," he continued as he scratched the back of his head, "I'm heading back to Mistral when everything is over. I was just wondering if your offer still stands?"

"That depends. Are you prepared to work harder than you ever had to before, training every moment to become the best fighter you can be?" she asked him, crossing her arms in front of herself.

"Yes, of course," he said with a quick smile.

"Very well then, by my power as an Elite Knight of Mistral, I'm giving you the honor of becoming my squire," she said then poked his chest causing him to pull back from the pain in his chest. "Just as soon as you get better."

"Great," he said as she rubbed his chest to try and numb the pain. "Should we tell Ren and Nora?"

"No need," Ren said as he suddenly appeared from around the corner of the armory, "we heard the whole thing."

"What were you guys doing here?" Jaune asked as he approached the rogue.

"Well, Nora saw a bird and she finally caught it," Ren told them as they turned the corner to see Nora standing there with a large smile on her face, holding a panicking red eyed raven in her hands. "It was flying down the streets before she saw the poor creature."

"We can have a team mascot!" Nora exclaimed as she hugged the bird only to have it panic even more. "Come on, let's find a bird cage, and Jaune, you can go search for some food."

The raven immediately croaked before jabbing its beak into her chin forcing her to drop it. The bird immediately took flight before flying around the corner. Just as Nora ran over to chase it, she came into a face full of red and black mist. Once the air cleared, she saw that the bird had just disappeared.

"Well, that was interesting," Jaune remarked as he looked around for the bird.

* * *

Weiss walked through the main hall, following Ironwood towards the War Room. She looked around and watched as several knights rushed past her, carrying large wooden crates. Once they entered the room, she could see the remaining members of her family along with all her father's advisors sitting around the table.

"Are the preparations ready?" Jacques asked Ironwood as soon as he entered the room.

"Yes, we will be able to proceed as soon as you give the word," he replied giving a nod to the man.

"What's going on?" Weiss asked as she approached the table. "What preparation?"

"We are leaving," the Spymaster answered her as he reached the table. "Fort Mantle is compromised for the time being. My sources say that the White Fang has retreated to their ships headed away from Atlas. Now is the opportune time to travel back to Northern Atlas while the soldiers repair the fortress."

"So soon, but the battle has only just ended?"

"Which is why it's the best time," Ironwood interjected. "We can take several groups of our knights that are not vital to the reconstruction, along with thirty of our iron golems, and form a convoy to a small fleet of ships waiting at Belaray to take us back to the capital city."

"As of right now, this is our best option," Jacques told them. "Weiss, go back to your quarters and pack up our things. We leave in three hours."

Weiss turned around and was about to leave the room before Ironwood reached over and grabbed her arm. "Also, remember to inform Miss Rose," he told her as the rest of the room's occupants went back to discussing the plans for travelling. "She's a member of the castle guard now, she should probably join us for the journey."

* * *

"So, you just invited them to come to Patch?" Yang asked Blake as the two of them entered the fifth level courtyard, seeing Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha looking around for something.

"Well, they just want to start over, and not all places are friendly towards faunus," Blake told her as they approached the others. Looking over to the entrance to the guest quarters, they could see Ruby and Qrow enter the courtyard and make their way over. "I didn't promise them anything and only told them of the place's location. If they decide to come, then I will help them as much as I can."

"Wait, I'm fine with it, I was just confused since you haven't been to Patch before."

"Yang, I have a map," Blake told her as she gestured to one of her pouches.

"Oh, ok," she said as they walked next to the others.

Ruby tried to run over and hug Yang, but just as she picked up speed, she tripped on a loose stone causing her to stumble and fall. Qrow immediately winced as he watched her fall then cursed to himself before taking a few steps back. Once Ruby picked herself off the ground, Qrow looked relieved for a second before Weiss suddenly collided with his back, throwing her to the ground and causing him to get annoyed.

"So, everyone's together," Yang remarked as Weiss picked herself up and ran over to Ruby. "Judging by how our luck has been, that might not be a good thing."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Qrow muttered to himself as he positioned himself somewhat far away from the group.

"My father wants to leave within three hours," Weiss said causing everyone to immediately look at her. "He says this is the best time to return to the capital since Fort Mantle isn't as protected as it was."

"It makes sense," Qrow interjected from the back. "Fort Mantle is claimed to be the most defendable fortress in all of Remnant, but Atlas is known for making protected towns. The capital city is about as protected as Vale is, and the castle is protected even more. If the greatest fortress is compromised, then it would make sense to go back to the second-best location."

"So, you leave in three hours, does that mean Ruby is going with?" Jaune asked causing silence to fill the air as several of them looked over to the reaper.

"I guess it would," Ruby said, chuckling a little as she scratched the back of her head.

"Then I guess it would be best for the rest of us to get on our way," Pyrrha said causing the rest to look at her. "I haven't reported to Haven in a long time, and I did complete my mission, so I need to go back."

"I should probably go home for a while to recover," Jaune interjected.

Ren and Nora stepped forward. "We are going back to Mistral too," she said looking over to Jaune and Pyrrha. "The four of us, we're a team. Plus, we can't let Jaune stay alone, or he'll become beowolf food."

"Too soon," Ren said as he placed a hand on Nora's shoulder.

Jaune suddenly let out a little laugh. "Yeah, probably," he said then winced as his chest started to hurt again. "Travelling in a group would be better anyway, especially if we get attacked on the road. I'm not in the greatest shape to fight."

"You guys are going to Mistral, Ruby and Weiss are going to Atlas, and Blake and I are going back to Patch," Yang remarked as she looked around the group. "So, does this mean we have to say our goodbyes?"

"I… think it does," Ruby said as she looked over to her sister.

"Damn it, I hate goodbyes," Yang said as she looked away from her.

"It's only temporary," Weiss interjected. "We will all see each other again."

"I guess you're right," she said as she looked over to the princess, "you just make sure to protect my sister."

"That goes without saying," Weiss said as she smiled at the brawler, getting a cheeky grin in return.

Yang suddenly stumbled as Ruby jumped onto her in a hug. The two laughed a bit before Ruby buried her head in Yang's shoulder. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine," Ruby said to her. "You just need to stay safe. Out of all of us, you're the most likely to get into trouble."

"Hey, I take offense to that," she told her as she reached up to stroke Ruby's hair.

"I love you," Ruby told her as she hugged her sister tighter.

"I love you too."

* * *

 **Alright, so that went by a little fast, but I really want to end this chapter and begin on the other... oh wait, there's something I forgot to add.**

 **I just want to say one thing before I continue. metalcorpse, I'm so sorry.**

* * *

Two figures watched the military convoy leave the fortress from the fourth level's wall. The first one was a tall man with grey, partially slicked back hair wearing sparse armor on his upper body and heavily armored boots over his feet. The other figure was a shorter girl with red eyes and green hair wearing light leather white and green shallow cut crop top along with white pants under brown chaps.

"So, Emerald, let me get this straight, Cinder just wants to waltz right in and take Adam's body?" the man asked the shorter girl only to get an agitated red-eyed glare back at him.

"Yes, Mercury, preferably before they burn his body," she told him as she walked past him, making sure to bump his shoulder. "So, we should probably hurry."

"Right, well, let's go whatever this place's equivalent to the Hall of the Dead is," he said getting off of the battlements and following Emerald. "Any ideas?"

"If you would have paid attention, you would already know," she told him as she gestured to the building next to the holding cells. Next to the door, they could see two Atlesian Knights standing guard. She looked to him before her eyes started to glow. "Can you help me for a moment?"

"Right, right, creepy magic stuff," he said as he approached the two knights to see that their eyes were completely glossed over. In a swift movement, he jumped at the first one and kicked him in face, throwing him back into the wall and knocking him out. Pivoting on his foot, Mercury kicked the second knight in the solar plexus before shooting his foot upwards catching him in the jaw, knocking him out. "And why did you need my help for this?"

"Would you rather I kill them?" Emerald asked him as she pulled out her sickles to emphasize her point. "Cinder gave us strict orders not to kill any knights out in the open since that would alert them."

"And knocking them out is any better?"

"Well, there's no blood," she told him as she opened the door and grabbed one of the knight's arms. "Now help me with this."

Mercury let out an annoyed sigh before grabbing the other knight's arm and dragged him into the building. They carried the knights over to a nearby table and set them down next to some food, making sure to place several empty bottles of mead were near them. Walking further in, they both could smell a fire burning nearby along with the distinct scent of blood.

Entering the room, the both noticed Adam laying on a nearby table and next to him was a mortician opening a raging furnace. Mercury lunged forward and kicked the mortician into the furnace and while the man screamed in pain. He then closed the metal door, muffling the screams.

He then turned around and saw Emerald's annoyed face. "What?" he asked her, outstretching his arms. "There's no blood."

"Whatever, just grab Adam," Emerald said as she picked up the bull faunus's red sword.

Mercury looked to the table before turning away slightly at the sight. "Ho! They got him good!" he exclaimed as he walked over to the table. "He got cut up pretty bad, and decapitated too. They even ripped off one of his horns, oh he's not going to be happy about that."

"Well, he's dead, so just grab him and help me carry him out of here," she told him as she started to leave the room.

He looked around for a moment before grabbing a nearby burlap sack and threw Adam's head into it. He tied the bag to his belt before slinging the man over his shoulder. Leaving the building, he saw Emerald looking in through the window to the holding cells.

"Hey, what are you doing?" he asked her as he readjusted Adam's body on his shoulder. "You were the one who said that we should hurry."

"Just one moment, there's something we need to take care of first," she told him as she opened the door. "Traitors don't deserve to live."

Moments after the doors closed, Mercury heard screaming coming from inside the cells. "Well, there goes the no blood rule."

* * *

Deep in the forest, Mercury and Emerald sat on a log near the large bonfire in the middle of their camp. Mercury was keeping an eye on the forest while Emerald was wiping blood from her weapons. Near the edges of the camp, they watched as several figures stumbled about, keeping watch for intruders. On the other side if the bonfire, they could see Cinder sitting on a log, sewing Adam's head back onto his body while humming to herself.

One of the figures near them suddenly fell to the ground with several of their bones snapping. "Damn it, I hate the undead, they're all completely useless and brittle," Mercury said as he watched the zombie pick itself up and continue walking before its arms fell off. "See?"

"Never doubt the power of necromancy," Cinder said to him as she looked up from Adam's neck. "Alone, a zombie is weak, but a zombie horde is a force not to be trifled with. Then, there are necromancers who are powerful enough to resurrect a person, turning them into a revenant, an intelligent undead warrior, completely loyal to its master."

"And that's what you're going to do to him?" Emerald asked her as Cinder finshed sewing Adam's neck.

"That is what I am going to attempt," she answered as she placed Adam on the ground in front of her. "Necromancy is different from healing magic, makes it much easier to summon the magic power required to resurrect someone, but it can only be attempted once and the results can sometimes vary. A person can only be resurrected once. The soul cannot take being torn between our world and the afterlife more than once."

She raised her hands above Adam's chest, causing a black and purple mist to form around them. As she lowered her hands onto his chest, the mist began to spread over his body, closing his wounds. The mist suddenly turned into a bright red as it completely covered his body, lifting him into the air.

Adam's body suddenly jerked as it fell out of the mist and landed on the ground. "AHH!" he shouted as he slammed a fist into the ground in anger. "I am going to kill that Schnee bitch!"

"Adam Taurus, welcome back," Cinder said to him as she placed a hand against his back.

"Don't you dare touch me, human filth!" he shouted at her as he swatted her hand away.

"Be careful not to lose your head… again," she said with a smirk as she flicked her right hand upward.

Adam's hand immediately shot up to his neck, making sure he could feel the stitches. "What… what have you done to me?" he asked her as he tried to remove his hand from his neck, to no avail.

"To put it simply, Mr. Taurus, you are mine now," she said as she relaxed her hand to her side causing Adam to let go. "You are neither dead nor alive, you are an undead, or to be more specific, a revenant. Your whole existence from now on is to serve one purpose, mine. When you are out in the world, you will be acting on your own accord, but all of it is to fulfill my mission."

"You crazy bitch, why didn't you let me stay dead?" he asked her.

"Adam, Adam, Adam, you are much too useful to be dead," she said as she stroked the side of his face before handing him his sword. "Forget about the pitiful White Fang, you are now part of something much greater than them." With a simple flick of her wrist, Adam's eyes began to glow red from under his mask.

After the glowing stopped, Adam fell down to one knee and bowed his head. "What is my first task?" he asked her, causing the witch to laugh.

* * *

 **So yeah, Adam is back from the dead. I actually have been setting up resurrection magic for a while, but this is when it became important to the plot.**

 **So, the rules of resurrection:** **A person can only be resurrected once, so no third lives** **The longer the person is dead, the more magic it takes to revive them.** **The dead person's vital body parts must be present for the resurrection to take place, so no headless people, that's just regular undead.** **Then finally, there's a difference between regular resurrection and necromantic resurrection.**

 **The group is now split up into three groups, which I have been setting up for a while. JNPR, White Rose, and Bumbleby. This also means that I'm going to have a couple chapters devoted to JNPR and Bumbleby, but they aren't going to be as often as White Rose. Hopefully, I can post another chapter during the week to be a chapter during the time skip, and unlike the siege, I plan on making the order: Bumbleby, White Rose, then JNPR. After JNPR, we're going to be following White Rose after the entire time skip. I think it's pretty clear.**

 **So yeah, I'm going to post this chapter now and maybe go back to edit the chapter later.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	67. The Return to Patch

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A with the first of the intermediate time skip chapters for The Princess and the Rose. I'm actually surprised that I got this done as soon as I did, but then I realized that I'm not writing a ton of combat like the previous chapters, so I'm basically back to the old formula for this story. That's right! We're going back to being dialogue-centric!**

 **I just want to make it clear that I'm not going to be updating this story twice a week. The intermediary chapters are just going to be simple chapters that set up where the groups are going to be after the time skip, and instead of spending a month on these chapters, I'm getting them done fast.**

 **Onto reviews!**

 **RememberStars: It actually is interesting, I never had Qrow directly refer to Tai as Ruby's father, always calling him Tai. That way whenever he does say 'your father' to her, he can be talking about himself. Emerald killed the White Fang deserters that didn't join the assassination group, it's not a secret. She would've killed Marcus, Carina, and Patrick, but they were at the infirmary. BUMBLEBY! I actually originally planned for Ozpin, Glynda, Vale's knights, and adventurers to step into the battle using the planal knife to save the day, but I decided that it was way too much of a Deus Ex Machina. Anyway, in the group, I was going to introduce CFVY in a small cameo, but now I have a different plan for them.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Am I getting that predictable? Well, I guess when I've been setting up things for a while, you guys can just guess how a wrap up chapter is going to go. Hey, on the bright side, if they kill Adam again, he's permanently dead. Also, we'll see.**

 **Hellwyrm: Hey, don't give me any ideas about Cinder, I just might use it. Oh, the chapter was definitely rushed, I just wanted to get it over with so I can do the time skip. three of the deserters survived, they just were in the infirmary at the time... and one kind of lost a leg. I have a lot of plans for this story, and one of them does involve Ruby coming to terms with killing (and whether or not she will actually do it). I might make it sort of a bonus chapter every once in a while if people like the Halloween chapters that much, but it might seem a bit strange to post a Halloween chapter in like February.**

 **Yakosh: I don't think Adam dying and coming back will become part of the show's canon. There's been no hints towards resurrections except for Ozpin, but that's not really resurrection.**

 **metalcorpse: Yeah, sorry, but I have been planning his death and resurrection for a long time, like around the warehouse arc.**

 **tallon2692: No, she has no qualms about killing monsters. So, goblins, demons, zombies (not revenants, sadly, since they are still basically people), vampires, and werewolves are all on the list that Ruby is willing to kill.**

 **Guest: I do have a plan for SSSN appearing in the future, I'm not 100 percent sure they'll only appear with Blake and Yang.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Two months had passed since the siege had ended. Blake and Yang were both sitting on the bow of a wooden ship passing through the frozen waters of Vale heading towards the island of Patch, travelling slow enough so the captain could navigate between the large pieces of ice. After the ship docked on the island, the girls brought their horses out from below deck and headed towards the center of town.

"So, this is a… nice island," Blake commented as the two rode through the streets, a couple of pedestrians looking at her, mostly being confused at the sight of her before recognizing Yang.

"The people here are nice," Yang told her as she looked around the town with a smile on her face. "It's a small island, but we have most of the things you'd need. The most notable landmarks are probably the marketplace, the taverns, my dad's workshop, and Fort Signal on the outskirts of town."

"Is there a bookshop on this island?"

"I actually don't know," Yang said looking at her, somewhat embarrassed. "I can't read, so I never bothered to learn if there was a bookshop here."

"Right, right, I forgot you couldn't read," Blake said as she remembered her deal with Yang. "I guess we will have to rectify that." Yang suddenly stopped in front of a building causing Blake to pull on Nightmare's reins signaling for the horse to stop. She looked over the building and noticed a hanging wooden sign that had an image of a large anvil. "Is this your father's workshop?"

"Yep," she answered as she jumped off Bumblebee and tied the reins to the post outside before entering the shop. "Dad? Hey, dad, are you here?"

"Yang?" Blake heard a man ask as she dismounted Nightmare, tied the reins to the nearby post, and entered the shop to see a man with blond hair and blue eyes wearing a blacksmith apron. His face immediately lit up as he saw Yang. "Yang!"

"Dad!" Yang exclaimed as she ran over to Tai and hugged him. "I'm home."

"I can see that," he chuckled, stroking her hair then looked to the door and saw Blake. "You brought a friend."

"Hello, Mr. Xiao Long," Blake greeted as she walked further into the shop to approach the man. "My name is Blake Belladonna."

"Please, just call me Tai," he said as he let go of Yang and looked to the door then back to his daughter. "So, where's Ruby. When I heard your voice, I expected your sister to bolt into the back."

"Well… Ruby isn't here," Yang told him, looking away from her father, which also caused Blake to take several steps back towards the door.

"What?" he asked her as his expression suddenly turned somber.

"Ruby kind of became an Atlesian Knight after the siege of Fort Mantle," she told him, still refusing to look up at him. "So, she went to the Atlesian capital with Weiss once the battle was over." Yang then reached to her belt and pulled out a letter before handing it to Tai. "Ruby gave me this before we split up to give to you."

Tai opened the letter and read it for a few moments before chuckling to himself. "Ok, so Ruby went to Atlas, so she could be with Weiss. She could've just said that instead of writing a long indirect explanation," he chuckled which confused the two.

"Dad, what are you talking about?"

"What? Ruby's relationship with the princess," he told her which only confused the girls even more. "I have friends, Yang, they tell me things, especially if they involve my daughters."

"Who told you?"

Blake and Yang suddenly heard the door to the back of the shop open and when they looked over they could see Glynda Goodwitch enter the room. "That would have been me, Miss Xiao Long," Glynda said as she walked further into the carrying two cups of tea before handing one to Tai. "Did you think I wouldn't inform your father about your dangerous adventures?"

"Oh, Miss Goodwitch," Yang said, suddenly stiffening up before looking over to Blake. The faunus simply looked at her and shook her head while looking confused. "What brings you here?"

"Well, your father and I are just finalizing a business deal," she answered her.

"I'm hiring Glynda to enchant sheets of my specialized chainmail since Ozpin is commissioning me to make custom armor for this year's newest batch of Elite Knights," Tai explained to Yang as Glynda took a sip of her tea, looked at it with mild disappointment, then struck it with a small bolt of lightning to heat it up.

"It will take a long time for the project to be completed," Glynda said then sipped her tea again and looked pleased with herself. "I will have to commute here once a week, and seeing as you have returned home, I can give you further magic lessons for the time being."

Yang slowly turned to Blake in stiff movements, giving her a pleading look. "Hey, you're the mage here, this doesn't apply to me," the faunus said, raising her hands in front of herself.

"You're supposed to be on my side," Yang told her, which only confused the ninja.

"You never voiced any opposing ideas to her statement, and I don't believe there is a downside to this," Blake told her, crossing her arms as she leaned on a display case. "I think you should probably accept the offer to be trained under the Court Mage of Vale."

"Fine," she said as her head lowered slightly before turning around, seeing Glynda finish her tea. "I guess I'm going to be doing a lot of learning this year. Learning how to read and Goodwitch's crazy magic regimen."

"You're learning how to read? That is actually convenient," Glynda interjected as she approached Yang. She then pulled her small bag from her belt and started to reach into it. Suddenly, she had to reach her entire arm into the bag before pulling her arm free, holding a thick book. "This is a book on the theory of magic. Since you aren't literate at the moment, I'm sure Miss Belladonnna wouldn't mind helping you read this before next week."

Blake and Yang immediately froze before turning to face each other. "You want us to read that entire book?" Blake asked her as Glynda snapped her fingers sending the book flying into the ninja's hands.

"I expect you two to read and understand the concepts in this book," she said then snapped her fingers again causing Yang's gauntlets and crystal to float out of her pack. "In order to properly train under me, you will have to have your crystal fused to your weapons for a conduit. I'll take these back to Vale with me and have them combined before next week."

"Hey, I need those," Yang said as she tried to take her gauntlets back, only to watch as they disappeared into Glynda's small pouch. "What am I supposed to do if I get attacked."

"You are a brawler and a battlemage, I'm sure you'll come up with something," she said then started to walk towards the door. "I have some projects to attend to at Fort Beacon, so I'll be taking my leave. Tai, make sure to have that chainmail ready when I return."

"Will do, have a nice flight," Tai said giving her a quick wave and watched as she started to float before the door closed. He then turned to the girls and patted Yang on the back. "So, how long is my daughter going to grace me with her presence?"

"Well, I guess I don't have any plans on leaving the island any time soon," Yang muttered in a defeated tone loud enough for him to hear. "I can keep in contact with Ruby by sending letters instead of travelling to a different kingdom. I guess it would be good practice on reading and writing…"

"Ok," he said as he walked away from Yang, letting her trail off while staring off into nothing, then approached Blake. "So, Glynda has told me a lot about you, some of it good, some of it bad."

"Then you know about my past…" Blake trailed off as she looked away, feeling a bit ashamed.

"Yes, the White Fang," he said, crossing his arms to look at her. "Well, you left the White Fang and fought alongside my daughters, and that's all that matters to me." She looked up at him, surprised, and the sides of her mouth starting to form a smile. "Now, I'm guessing that there was a reason that Yang decided to bring you here, especially since she's planning to stay for a while."

"Yeah, she said she was going to ask you if I could stay with you two for a while."

"Well, I don't think she's able to talk right now," he told her then turned around to look at Yang who was still muttering to herself. "Though, I completely understand what you mean." He paused for a moment to think, resting his chin on his hand. "I don't really see a need for you two to _stay_ with me, but that doesn't mean I can't give you two a place to live." She cocked her head to the side in confusion, her cat ears turning slightly around under her bow. "I have a house, this workshop that is attached to part of a house, and my brother-in-law's farm that I've been put in charge of. I can't keep track of all three places, so I think I'll put you two in charge of taking care of Qrow's farm. All you have to do is make sure it doesn't burn to the ground, and considering Yang's pyromancy, you might need to watch her a bit carefully."

"So, you're just giving us a house?"

"Well, no," he said with a shrug while digging a key from his pocket, holding it out for her to take. "I was 'gifted' the job of house sitting, and all I'm doing is just 're-gifting' the same job. The house is still Qrow's."

"Thank you," she said, taking the key from his hands then looked past him towards Yang. "So, should we snap her out of this, or just let her come out of this on her own?"

"She'll be fine, do you want to come inside and relax?" he asked her, gesturing towards the door in the back of her shop. "I'm sure you must be tired from travelling."

"I will, thank you," she said as they both made their way to the back. "I saw you had tea earlier."

* * *

"So, I guess we technically have a farm right now," Blake said as she and Yang entered the dark house, feeling the chill. "At least we don't have to do anything for the winter months."

Yang entered the living room and placed several logs in the fireplace before igniting it with her magic. "We also probably won't have to do much in the spring since the workers planted the winter wheat earlier in the fall. I don't fully understand what all the workers do, but farming was more Ruby's thing," she said as she held her hands over the fire to heat them up.

"Winter wheat can be planted before the ground freezes and once the ground thaws, it'll grow over the year before being harvested early in the fall," Blake explained to her as she sat down in a large armchair near the fireplace and opened the book Glynda gave her. "I'll read this book first before explaining it to you, just so I can help you understand it better."

"Alright, well, I also have something that I want to work on which will need me to set up a forge outside," Yang said as she sat down on a chair at the dining room table before pulling out a piece of paper and an inkwell., "but first I need to get this design finished before I do anything."

"What are you working on, anyway?" she asked her, leaning over from the chair to look at the blacksmith.

"Back in Atlas, after my fight with Cinder, my mother saved me, I noticed she had an interesting weapon," Yang said as she continued to draw on the paper. "It seemed like the katana you have, but longer."

"That was an odachi," Blake corrected her. "It's different from a katana, but not by much. They typically aren't useful in combat, but I guess if someone was strong enough to properly control the blade it could… be useful." Blake paused as she walked over to the table and saw that Yang had drawn an odachi with all the measurements. "You aren't, are you?"

"Yes, I am," she immediately answered with a grin as she looked up at the faunus, "and you are helping me."

"Wait, what? Why?"

"Well, if an odachi is similar to a katana, then you can help me figure out how they are forged."

"Do I have a say in the matter?"

"Nope."

Blake let out a long groan as she started making her way back to the arm chair. "Fine, but a weapon like that takes time to forge properly. So for us to make this weapon, it will take about three months to complete, considering our already hectic schedule. Then I don't even want to imagine how long it will take you to learn swordsmanship."

"Well, we're going to be here for a while, so I think we have time," Yang told her then suddenly heard what sounded like an attempt at knocking. "What the heck?"

Yang walked towards the door to answer it. When she opened the door, she didn't see anyone standing there. "Arf!" she heard something bark before looking down. She saw Zwei standing on the porch wagging his tail, wearing what seemed to be a small suit of black and grey armor over a small set of enchanted chainmail and a helmet that had holes on the top to allow his ears to fit through. Strapped to his side was a small dagger that the corgi could easily bite down on and draw.

"Zwei!" Yang exclaimed as the small dog jumped into her arms and licked her face. "Hey, hey, I missed you too." She reached over and scratched under his jaw causing the dogs tail to wag even faster. "So, is this what dad's been up to since Ruby and I left?"

"Arf!" Zwei barked in confirmation.

"You never told me you had a dog," Blake said from the behind the brawler.

"Well, it was never brought up," she said as she turned around and stopped once she saw Blake clinging to the top of a nearby wardrobe. "What are you doing up there? Do you not like dogs?"

"I'm not exactly fond of them," she answered her, keeping a wary eye on the dog.

"Oh, come on, Zwei's a sweetheart," Yang told her as she placed the dog on the ground. "Come down and say hi."

"I think I'm fine right where I am," Blake said as she watched Zwei trot over and placed his front paws onto the wardrobe, so he could look directly up at her. "Shoo, go away."

"Arf! Arf!" he barked in response as he jumped off the wardrobe, walked over to the armchair Blake was sitting on previously, then hopped onto the chair and sat down. He then looked directly at her, tilting his head to the side and let his tongue hang out. "Arf!"

"Oh, this is going to be a thing with you two, isn't it?" Yang asked herself as she sat back down at the table, ignoring the other two staring at each other.

* * *

 **ZWEI IS BACK AND THE GREAT RIVALRY BEGINS! Oh, Tai and Glynda are here too. BUT CORGI ARMOR! Yeah, I remember Tai's last remark when Ruby and Yang left Patch.**

 **Something I'm going to enjoy writing is SEASONS! I know I haven't done a lot with seasons in the past, but hopefully that can change. So, Blake and Yang's chapter is happening in the winter. I wonder what seasons the others' chapters are going to be in, well, I already know.**

 **Before I get into Tai and Glynda, can anyone guess why Blake has a significant knowledge about farming?**

 **Now then, Tai. He's back baby! (That felt weird to write) So, for the Bumbleby chapters, I hope to include him more than I did before.** **Originally, I was going to have him get pissed when Yang told him Ruby didn't come back since he would've believed she had died, but then I decided against it after I decided where the conversation was going to go.**

 **Glynda has returned! Yeah, she's going to be present in the chapters too. I figured I could get in a few training shenanigans with her. I also remembered that I needed to somehow get Yang's crystal into her gauntlets, so I figured that Glynda would be like, 'yeah, you can't do this on your own, so I'll get it done.'**

 **Blake is finally going to be keeping her end of the bargain and is going to be teaching Yang how to read. I know it hasn't really been a big plot point, but it's important to Yang.**

 **Finally, why Yang is making an odachi. I know Yang doesn't use swords, trust me, I know. So, Yang saw Raven's weapon, and while Yang may have said she doesn't care about her mom since she left, but we all knew that was a lie. So she's going to be copying mom a bit, but just a bit.**

 **This actually makes a pretty good transition into my next topic. I'm low-key making the members of RWBY learn how to use different weapons in combat, well I guess learning different fighting styles. Ruby has been learning fencing. Weiss is going to learn two handed fencing with her rapier and magic hilt, but she's also going to focus on spellcasting. Blake is going to do more assassin stuff and learn how to use a bow and arrow. Yang is still going to mostly use her fists in combat, but should the situation arise, she's going to draw her odachi.**

 **So, I'm going to head to bed soon.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	68. Training and New Recruits

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A with the second of the intermediate time skip chapters. So yeah, this chapter came out later than I thought, but I was starting to develop the early signs of carpal tunnel again, so I figured I would play it safe. Though, due to that I didn't get to set up everything I wanted to set up for the future in this chapter, but I think I have a plan in place. So this chapter is not gong to be as detailed as the others, it's basically setting up where they're going to be in later chapter.**

 **I'm now rambling aren't I? I'm pretty tired, so I'll finish the ANs fast.**

 **Reviews!**

 **metalcorpse: Correct, I was doing it to remind everyone of her past. It will play a decent part in the future.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: It would be more comedic to have Blake hang off the ceiling, but I like to be somewhat realistic in this world of magic, monsters, demons, and animal people.**

 **Rapter267: Maybe...**

 **KibaPT: Maybe...**

 **ThatOneGuy: Damn right, Combat Zwei! And you were also correct about Blake.**

 **iamking: I mean, I'm not going to kill off Adam so easily, especially since he's doing a lot in the show.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Over the six months since the siege, both girls had changed. Ruby had grown enough for Weiss to take notice and be annoyed at being shorter than her girlfriend. The younger girl's hair even started to grow enough that she had to occasionally brush it out of her face. Weiss had started to wear a simple ponytail lower on her head, still pinning it with her tiara while draping the rest of her hair over her right shoulder due to a training accident where Ruby grabbed her ponytail and threw her to the ground.

The castle's training yard was mostly vacant due to the summer heat, but in the middle of the yard Ruby and Weiss locked rapiers. The younger girl broke free before thrusting her blade at the princess.

"Have you heard from Yang lately?" Weiss asked as she parried Ruby's sword then activated her magic hilt with her right hand. Thrusting forward with the magic blade, she watched as Ruby's eyes quickly darted over the blade and where it was aimed, allowing her to move to the side and avoid the strike.

"Yeah, I received a letter yesterday," Ruby replied as she regained her footing before thrusting forward with her whole body, but Weiss pivoted on one foot and dodged the attack. "It wasn't in Blake's handwriting and some words were misspelled. She's improved a lot, but at one point in the letter it seemed like she got frustrated and etched several runes on the page."

"That sounds like her." Weiss jumped forward to avoid Ruby's next strike. As she landed, Weiss spun around to parry a strike and counter with her own attack, but Ruby fell backwards. "Did she include anything new about her magic training?"

"No, she's still working on improving her barriers and magic reserves with Goodwitch. I did learn that dad is making Blake her own set of chainmail," Ruby said as she kicked upwards while she fell, hitting Weiss's fingers on her right hand, forcing the princess to drop the magic artifact. "She's also apparently getting skilled at using the bow."

"Think you'll have some competition?" Weiss asked her as a white glow started to emanate from her hand while she kept Ruby's attention focused on the rapier in her other hand.

"Come on, I'm still a much better archer," she said as landed on the ground. "I have the enchanted crossbow."

"Uh huh," she said immediately shooting her right hand downward, causing a thick layer of ice to coat the ground under Ruby as she tried to get up, causing her to fall back to the ground. Weiss then stepped forward and aimed the tip of her rapier at Ruby's chest. "My win."

"You cheated," Ruby said puffing out her cheeks.

"Don't give me the face, you used your speed first to dodge my attack," she scolded her as she leaned forward to scowl more intensely.

"Heheh, you noticed that?" Ruby asked her as she scratched the back of her head, trying her best to avoid Weiss's gaze. "I'm still not that great at fencing, all right."

"Which is why we're practicing," she said with a sigh as she snapped her fingers, causing the ice to crumble. "Once you get skilled enough at regular fencing, then we can implement your speed. I'm sure that's how your uncle trained you to use your scythe."

"I mean, he did," she said picking herself off the ground, "but I was maybe nine at the time."

"Well, you're a young lady now, so you should learn the proper ways to train in a new fighting style," a new voice interjected causing the two to turn towards the person. They looked over to see a slightly overweight man with brown balding hair and a moustache wearing a black and blue butler outfit. "Of course, that would be what Captain Brynn would say in this situation, except maybe more shouting."

"Klein, what are you doing out here?" Weiss asked as she and Ruby approached the man.

"It is my duty to serve the Schnee family, which includes making sure you stay hydrated in this heat," he said as he seemed to pull a tray from nowhere holding a pitcher of lemonade with two glasses. Placing the tray on a nearby table, he poured two glasses before handing them to the girls. "I do agree with the princess. From what I've seen, it would benefit Miss Rose to become proficient with fencing before applying her unnaturally high speed instead of relying on the element of surprise."

"You have a point," Ruby muttered before she took a sip of the drink.

"Is there anything else, or did you just come out here to check on us?" Weiss asked him as she set her half empty glass on the table. "The heat out here is bad, but we're fine with it. It would be bad if you were to suddenly collapse due to heat."

"Inconceivable, that would mean I would have slept on the job," he laughed as he refilled Weiss's glass. "I was also asked to remind you that you have a training session with Court Mage Samuel in less than an hour," he then turned to Ruby as she finished her glass, "and Captain Brynn wanted me to find you before he announced the knights joining the castle guard today."

"When is that?" she asked him, setting her empty glass on the tray.

"Less than half an hour," he told her causing the crimsonette to panic as she looked between him and Weiss.

"Well, you should hurry then," Weiss said as she motioned for her to leave. In an instant, Ruby disappeared from the courtyard, astonishing the butler. "It takes a while to get used to."

"You two have been here for almost six months, but I don't think I will ever get used to your friend's speed," he said as he started walking back to the castle. "You should probably hurry. Samuel doesn't appreciate lateness."

"Klein, you forgot-" she said as she looked over to the table, expecting to see the tray, but seeing nothing there. "How does he do that?"

* * *

"Rose!" a voice shouted as Ruby entered the common area of the knight's barracks. She looked up at the balcony from the captain's office and saw a man with brown hair and eyes, sporting a long scar stretching diagonally across his face looking down at her with a scowl. "Nice of you to finally join us."

"I'm sorry, Captain Brynn, I was helping Weiss train in the yard on the other side of the castle," she said walking further into the building. Once the door closed behind her, she could see the eyes of the other knights staring at her, causing the younger girl to freeze. "I got here as fast as I could."

"I highly doubt that," Brynn said as he jumped down from the balcony and started walking towards her. He stopped in front of the young girl and looked her over. "What do you think you're wearing?"

"My armor," she said as she looked up at him.

"That is not the Atlesian Knight uniform," he said causing her to look over her armor. "Black and red armor, a skirt, and that ridiculous red cloak. You end up coming here at least once a week wearing that outfit, and I don't care if you say it is better armor, we have to keep up appearances in the castle. You may be a friend of the princess, but you are one of my knights first."

"I'm… I'm sorry, sir, I'll change right away," she said as she tried to avoid his gaze.

Before she could take a step, Brynn reach over and grabbed her shoulder. "Stop, it's too late at this point," he said as he let go of her. "Before you report to your station you may change, but I have an announcement."

"Yes, sir," she said, remaining still as the captain walked back to the front of the room.

"So, with that out of the way, we have new faces joining us," Brynn said as a door on the left side of the room opened and two people Ruby knew entered. "Some of you know Logan Sorenson and Erdin Fei, so their transition will hopefully be smooth."

"Greetings," Erdin said, speaking for them both. Ruby gave them a quick wave before Erdin smiled back and Logan nodded.

"Our last new member is somewhat of a special circumstance," Brynn said as a tall man with partially slicked back grey hair, sparse armor, and heavily armored boots entered the room. "This is Mercury Black."

"Hey," he greeted, giving all the knights a cocky grin before turning his gaze to Ruby.

* * *

"I'm sorry I'm late, Samuel," Weiss immediately said as she entered the Court Mage's tower.

"You are not late, Miss Schnee, otherwise Longfang would've attacked," a voice said from behind a large armchair further in the room as Weiss noticed a gloved glowing hand gesture towards the corner of the room. As she turned her gaze to where he gestured, she noticed a large arctic wolf that had blue flames rising from its eyes that looked directly at her. "Today, we will be focusing on your barrier magic. You have excelled at creating a personal barrier, but you have been having trouble keeping your spherical barrier from breaking under strong attacks."

"Right, and how are we going to train the bubble?" she asked him, taking out her rapier.

"Through practical experience," he explained to her as he started to twirl his hand, causing an orb of blue magic to form in the air. "You will create your 'bubble' in the area around you and I will deliver a focused attack against the barrier. You will not create a personal barrier around yourself and I will be trapping your feet to ensure you don't dodge the attack."

"What!?" Weiss shouted as she looked down and saw what appeared to be liquid stone from the floor coat her feet before solidifying.

"Let's begin," he said as the blue sphere suddenly shot a ray of magic at her.

Weiss yelped as she flicked her sword upward, creating a glowing white dome around herself before Samuel's ray hit her. She watched as the barrier was slowly being pushed in by the force behind the ray. Holding her sword in front of herself, she focused as much magic as she could through her crystal, causing the dome to slowly fix itself.

The ray suddenly increased in size, forcefully shattering the barrier. Before the ray hit her, the stone trapping her feet disappeared Once the ray hit her chestplate, Weiss was thrown through the large wooden door and collided with the stone wall behind it.

"This was for calling the barrier a bubble, wasn't it?" Weiss asked him as she slowly picked herself up.

"Yep," he replied, popping the 'p' at the end. "Heal yourself for any injuries and we'll try again."

* * *

"What kind of special circumstance is he?" one of the knights asked Brynn as Mercury made his way to a nearby post and leaned against it. "Is he the friend of the prince or something?

"Mercury here was a knight on South Atlas where he protected a mountain village from the undead," Brynn said causing the other knights to laugh while Ruby suddenly froze.

"He got here by killing some undead? I could've been promoted years ago," one knight said between laughing.

"Allow me to clarify," the captain said, causing the room to suddenly go quiet. "He single-handedly defeated an army of over five hundred undead, mostly consisting of draugr, but included several powerful liches."

"With only my feet," Mercury added, emphasizing his point by crossing his right leg over his left.

"What!?" many of the knights shouted in surprise.

"Mister Black's boots are heavily enchanted, so they are deadly weapons if used by one with the proper skills," Brynn said then clapped his hands. "Now, all of you, to your posts. Fei and Sorenson, you two will shadow Finn and Carmichael for the day." He then turned to Mercury. "You will be shadowing Rose today. She's on patrol and can show you around."

"Right," he said as he started walking over to Ruby while the rest of the knights left the room. Once they were the only ones left, he noticed she was remaining still. "Hey, Little Red, you still here?" He snapped his fingers in front of her face, causing the girl to regain focus.

"I'm sorry, what?" she asked, blinking several times at him.

"You zoned out as soon as Captain Brynn mentioned the undead."

"Oh, yeah," she chuckled as she started walking towards the female side of the barracks. "I'm not exactly fond of the undead. I've had a couple of bad experiences with them."

"Ha! You're scared of zombies?" he asked her, causing the younger girl to blush slightly. "Well, I guess every person has their own fears. I'm not too fond of spiders."

"You're scared of spiders? Ha!" Ruby laughed as she neared the door.

"Hey, have you ever seen a man's eyes pop out of his head after being bitten by a Vacuoan Diamondfang?" he asked her as she shook her head. "Yeah, scary stuff."

"I'll bet," she said as she entered the room, closing the door behind herself. Moments later, she emerged from the barracks still wearing her chainmail, but changed the armor to the Atlesian Knight uniform, begrudgingly wearing the blue lined what cape instead of her red cloak. Mercury then looked her over and saw that she had a crossbow strapped to the back of her belt and a large black and red scythe secured to her back. "Have you ever been bitten by a zombie and nearly turned into one?"

"Ok, you win this one," he said holding his hands in front of himself. "How about I keep the undead from treating you like a snack, and you keep spiders off of me?"

"That sounds fair," she said then started walking towards the exit. "Come on, we have patrol to do."

"Right behind you, I just need to grab something," he said as she exited the building. As soon as the door closed, his somewhat cheery demeanor suddenly changed to despair while he caught himself before falling to the ground, breathing heavily. "Why was I assigned to the damn castle? Emerald would be much better at earning the brat's trust." He took a moment to catch his breath before walking towards the door, changing back to his previous persona.

* * *

"Today was terrible," Weiss said as she and Ruby entered Weiss's room in the castle, wearing their normal clothing. "Samuel threw me into the wall almost twenty times." She turned around and locked the door before following her girlfriend further into the room.

"I had to escort the new guy around the entire estate," Ruby muttered as she fell face-first onto the large bed. "I know our chainmail is designed to protect against heat, but even I was sweating."

"Come here," Weiss said as she sat down on the bed next to Ruby while the redhead repositioned herself, so her head was resting on Weiss's lap. She then snapped her fingers causing the air around them both to drop in temperature, cooling them both down. "I know we just got here, but when do you think you're going to go back to the barracks?"

"Actually, I was hoping both of us could spend the night together?" she asked, looking up at Weiss. "Captain Brynn has been on my case about my armor, so I don't think it would be a good idea to stay in the barracks tonight."

"Of course he is," Weiss sighed as she stroked Ruby's hair. "Fine, you can stay the night, but we shouldn't do this as often as usual. People may begin to spread rumors, and I don't think my dad would react well to his daughter being with another girl."

"I know, we've talked about this before, but we've been doing fine so far," she said then leaned up and kissed her.

"Yeah, let's enjoy this moment before something crazy happen," Weiss said as she laid down on the bed while caressing Ruby's face.

* * *

 **I know, I know, I know, you guys are probably confused about me bringing in a character... but I enjoyed writing Logan and Erdin.**

 **...**

 **Right... Mercury. Well, he's going to play an important part in the future chapters, and believe it or not, but his mission isn't to kidnap Ruby. I could be lying, or I could be telling the truth. Tired Incoherent Van, he's craaaaazzy!**

 **Ruby is growing, and she's getting better at fencing. One thing I'm going to enjoy is writing about the other knights _not really_ liking her.**

 **Weiss is learning some advanced magic, like the bubble barrier. There's going to be some creative uses for other advanced magics in the future, and I've even hinted at them earlier in the series.**

 **Klein is cool. So far, I'm writing him to not have magic. So, pulling the tray from nowhere is just the sign of him being a damn good butler.**

 **I'm really tired.**

 **-J. Van A**


	69. Results of Training and a Mission

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A with the latest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. This is the final chapter of the intermediary ones before the time skip is over, so we get to finish with a smaller chapter than usual. Despite the size, I think I did it well.**

 **Onto reviews**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Klein is not a demon, even though he's Sebastian's voice actor from Black Butler (I knew it was a Black Butler reference, but Knowledgeseeker66 had to tell me he was Sebastian's voice actor). So far, we've got one moment of the other knights sort of making fun of Ruby. I was originally going to have a moment where Mercury was going to be attacked as sort of a hazing and Ruby would step in to help, but I was not really in the mood to make the knights immediately unlikable.**

 **rob york 1690: He is most definitely not going to be an ally. He will act like it, but he has his own agenda alongside befriending Ruby. He took down five hundred undead, and that actually happened in this universe, but he just so happens to know a necromancer who can control the undead and make them easy targets.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Jaune ducked under Pyrrha's sword, just in time to attempt a shield bash. She simply pivoted on her foot, spinning out of the direction of the attack, and stopped behind her squire. Then she raised her foot and kicked him in the back, throwing him to the ground.

As Jaune was picking himself off the ground, he noticed Pyrrha coming in for another attack. So, he launched himself forward and curled his body slightly, using his shield as a base, and launched himself into the air. Pyrrha smiled as she watched him using a move she hadn't taught him yet, pivot through the air and land on the ground facing her, with his shield in front of himself and keeping his sword ready.

Her expression hardened as he looked up at her, then she bolted forward. Jaune raised his shield to block her attack, but he didn't have a chance as she shield bashed his face. After she planted her feet on the ground, she watched as his sword was thrusting towards her head. He managed to tilt her head in time to avoid the attack, but she was caught off guard as he pulled back and hit her cheek with the pommel of his sword.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry," he immediately said as he backed up and saw her wide-eyed shocked expression from being hit. "Pyrrha, are you all ri-"

He was suddenly cut off by Pyrrha uppercutting him with her shield, then thrusting her sword at him, causing him to be knocked back as the weapon collided with his chestplate. She then shoulder-bashed him before following through with the attack, spinning around and kicking him in the face with the back of her boot, throwing him into the ground.

She then jumped onto him, pinning one of his arms under her shield and the other under her foot, using her other leg to kneel on his chest. She aimed her sword at his neck while she was breathing heavily. Before she could thrust her sword down, her expression slowly turned back to normal a she realized what she had done.

"I'm sorry," Pyrrha apologized as she got off him, letting go of her sword and shield, letting them fall to the ground. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."

"It's fine," he coughed as he she helped him off the ground. "I'm just surprised that I landed a hit."

"I was too," she told him as she wiped the dirt off his cheek and fixed his hair. "I haven't actually been hit like that since my own days as a squire. The only other person to have hit me was Ruby, and she only drew blood from breaking my nose. It really caught me off guard."

"Well, that's because I have such a great teacher," Jaune said as he leaned in slightly to look at where he hit her. It wasn't a very deep cut, but it stretched a couple inches and was beginning to bleed. "We should probably have Ren take a look at that."

"Yeah, it's probably a good idea to end it here for the day," he told him with a slight chuckle as they started walking to the Arc household.

The house itself was not gigantic, but it was a large manor with three levels, clearly a house that belonged to a family formally nobility. The estate was large enough, but the only other building on the property was stables, leaving the rest of the estate to consist of one large clearing and a small part of a nearby forest.

Behind the forest, the two of them could see the mountains that surrounded the town, leaving it in a valley. The surrounding mountains split in each of the four cardinal direction, leaving a path that leads to the center of town and the marketplace, allowing for the town to be an easy trading hub.

Once they entered the house, they both saw Ren sitting on a stool in the middle of the living room, near a large oil painting of Jaune and his family hanging over a fireplace. Then they noticed Ren's blank stare as Nora stood behind him holding the ends of a blue ribbon that was tied together in a large bow on the top of his head.

"Nora, why did you tie a bow in Ren's hair?" Pyrrha asked as they walked towards them.

"It wasn't Nora, it was your sisters," Ren said as he looked over to Jaune.

"Which one?" Jaune asked him with a sigh. "I'll go and tell them off."

"It was all of them," he replied as he slowly turned his head to stare back off into the distance. "They held me down while your mother restrained Nora. I can still hear them… giggling." Jaune and Pyrrha watched as the usually stoic man began to shiver. "They're terrifying."

"You guys have only been living here for eight months, I've been subject to their torture for years," Jaune said as his expression slowly turned blank before muttering, "I never wanted to wear all those dresses."

"Maybe it's time we go on a mission," Pyrrha said causing everyone to immediately look at her. She then reached into one of her belt pouched and dug out a letter that had an official Fort Haven wax seal. "I received this letter from Commander Lionheart a few days ago. Apparently, down south grimm activity is increasing more than usual, so Lionheart has sent out letters to many knights and the local Adventurers' Guild to the region for a search and destroy mission."

"We should go, anything to get away from here," Nora interjected as she finally undid Ren's bow. "We arrived in Mistral a while ago, but we haven't gone anywhere except into the forest for hunting."

"I actually have been wanting to test my training against grimm," Jaune told them as he flexed his arm. Pyrrha looked at him and blushed slightly before turning away from the three, hoping they didn't see her, but once she looked back she saw Nora's smirk. "I even managed to land a hit on Pyrrha today."

"Impressive," Ren said as he stood up and tied his long hair into a ponytail.

"Yes, I'm sure Pyrrha was very impressed when you touched her," Nora said with a smirk as she continued to look at the knight, only causing her to blush even more.

"God, she's worse than Yang," Pyrrha muttered to herself before her voice returning to its normal volume. "A-anyway, in the details of the mission, the region is extremely mountainous, so we have to leave our horses in a local town and go by foot for a large portion of the mission. In total, it should take us about three months to make it to Haven's camp in the area."

"We could probably leave in a few days," Ren said as he rested his hand under his chin. "I'm sure I saw a vendor selling mountain climbing gear in the market a few days ago. Then we need to pick up some dry rations that will last us the journey. We should probably pick up some cold resistant gear if we'll be gone for that long, and the mountains will be cold depending on the altitude the paths are on. Nora and I can go to the market tomorrow, and we still have plenty of gold left over from the Atlas's reward."

"We can pitch in to pay for the supplies," Jaune said as he reached over to one of his belt pouches, "I know my share went to my family, but I still have some gold left over."

"Nope," Nora interjected as she swatted Jaune's hand away. "You helped us out when we first joined you and the others, now it's our turn."

"Ditto," Ren said with a smirk as he crossed his arms in front of himself. "Though, the meaning is kind of lost when you realize at that time you had only pocket change compared to what we have now."

"It's not lost," Jaune chuckled, "you keep overthinking things."

"Yeah, this was a touching moment," Nora said as she lightly punched his shoulder, throwing the rogue into the floor. "Oh, my bad." Jaune immediately started to help him off the ground just as Nora walked over to the fireplace.

"So, we have a plan then," Pyrrha said as her blush finally faded. Once she turned back to the others, she came face-to-face with Jaune from the oil painting. "Ah!" she exclaimed as she turned around and suddenly crouched down while covering her face to hide her now prominent blushing from the others.

"Nora!" Jaune shouted getting the smaller girl's attention. "Please put my family's painting back on the wall. My sister will be furious if she has to paint another one."

"Hehe, fine," Nora laughed as she turned around and placed the painting back on its hook. "It was still funny."

"You scared Pyrrha. I didn't even think that was possible," Jaune said as he walked over and placed his hand on her back. "Are you ok?"

"I-I'm going to go check on the horses!" Pyrrha shouted as she sprinted out of the house.

"Huh, I guess she's pretty excited to go," he said as she turned around and saw Ren sigh as Nora continued to giggle. "I guess I'll go explain this to my family." He shuddered at the thought. "I know my sisters are probably going to hang off me and try to get me to stay, and I don't even want to think about what my mother is going to say."

* * *

 **Jaune is finally kicking ass. I figured that the best way to show that he has grown was use one of Pyrrha's moves (launching himself off the ground) and landing a blow that drew blood. In this entire series I don't think Pyrrha has ever been hit by anything, so Jaune managing to do it is significant. (I fixed it. I actually forgot Ruby managed to land some hits and break her nose.)**

 **Pyrrha very much has a crush on Jaune now, and Nora noticed. So when I do JNPR chapters, you can expect Nora shenanigans.**

 **Jaune's sisters broke Ren. I was going to have a brief mention that one of his sisters picked up Nora's hammer, but it wouldn't make sense except to be random.**

 **Anyone pick up the reference to the latest episode?**

 **I also might not be able to post a chapter next week. I'm going back to weekly chapters, and this week I have to write a paper for one of my classes that makes or breaks my grade, so I'm going to be busy. If I finish it early, I might be able to post next Sunday, but don't be surprised if I don't**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	70. After the Timeskip

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the latest chapter of The Princess and the Rose... FINALLY! I know it has been a while and I said before that I was getting back to my regualr schedule, but some personal stuff came up and I just wasn't in the right state of mind to write (or if I did this would be a much different chapter), and then I had finals so I just didn't have the time.**

 **In other news, The Princess and the Rose manga is progressing to the point that it has eight pages covering a lot of the first chapter. The artist's name is Manu-chann if you want to check out her stuff on DeviantArt. I'll also be posting the pages of the manga on my Tumblr, so you can check them out, hopefully if the link on my profile will work.**

 **Onto reviews**

 **Yakosh: Yeah, I realized that Ruby did mange to land a few hits in her fight. I changed the chapter up a bit to fix that.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: I had an idea similar to that actually, but who knows, JNPR is going to be in Mistral for a while. Anything can happen. I do not envy your living situation at all. I live with two other guys, and growing up it was three brothers and one sister, but then again she was a special kind of terror.**

 **k wolf omega: I'm glad to see you're still reading my stuff. I kinda gave up on BLZE since they got a bit too over the top and wouldn't really fit into the canon RWBY story anymore. I've been tempted so many times to make BLZE or STAR to make an appearance in this story, but each time the rational side of my brain decides against it. I'm surprisingly a decent Hanzo, but my current main is Reinhardt since I suck at FPS games and he's the only melee character. I do hate Junkrat too, especially since his ult just goes through my shield. A decent trat I found was angling the shield down and jumping as the wheel comes close, then when it explodes the shield takes the hit.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Ruby opened her eyes seeing Weiss laying in front of her on the bed in the princess's chambers. She looked over to the large window and saw the sun getting higher in the sky as it approached noon. Stretching for a moment, she slipped out of the bed and walked towards a pile of clothes, managing to find the pants of her chainmail before slipping them on.

"Good morning," she heard Weiss say as the princess sat up on the bed, pulling her blanket up to cover her chest. "What time is it?"

"Almost noon," Ruby replied as she looked to the window. "I thought I would slip out and let you sleep since you used a lot of magic yesterday. I have guard duty today and Captain Brynn always finds something to yell at me about."

"Why does he hate you so much?" Weiss asked her as she slipped off the bed and walked over to her wardrobe before slipping on a blue robe. "It seems like since your first day he's been on your case. Even after nearly a year here, he still pretty much hates you."

"Maybe he just needs someone to yell at, his job's stressful and it doesn't really bother me. Even if he does go a bit far at times, Mercury steps in and Brynn usually just walks off." Ruby grabbed the shirt of her chainmail suit and pulled it over her head. She reached over to her arm and pulled on the sleeve for a moment before feeling slightly uncomfortable and reached down to adjust her pant leg. "Hey Weiss, you didn't leave your chainmail over here last night, right?"

"Of course I didn't, unlike you I make sure to keep my clothes in my wardrobe and my armor has its own separate drawer in the adjacent dresser," Weiss said walking over to her girlfriend. "Why are you asking?"

"Well, I know I haven't worn my armor lately and the last few days we went on that guild mission, but my chainmail seems to be shorter than I remember and a bit tighter around the chest," she told her as she adjusted the shirt only to be surprised as Weiss reached up and pinched her cheeks.

"And what is _that_ supposed to mean?" Weiss asked her in an annoyed tone as she continued to pinch Ruby's cheeks.

"Ow, I don't know, it's just that you're a bit smaller than I am and I thought-" she was suddenly cut off by Weiss pinching even harder. "Ow, can you please let go?"

"Fine," she sighed as she let go of the reaper's cheek. "You do realize that you've grown, right? That armor was made for you over a year ago and you've gotten taller. Did you expect your armor to still fit when you were older?"

"Kinda," Ruby said as she rubbed her cheeks. "I guess I will have to modify my armor at the forges soon, but I don't have any more chainmail so maybe I can write to dad tonight and he can send some up here in about a month or so."

"Right, is there any news from Blake and Yang?" Weiss asked her as she turned away from Ruby and approached her desk and opened a magic theory book.

"Well, Yang is getting a lot better at writing and now she only has problems with complicated words. Apparently, she is helping Goodwitch in translating demonic texts while she's improving in her magic. In the last letter she sent she said she mastered the bubble barrier after she was on a small island that Goodwitch created a lightning storm to constantly attack her," Ruby told her as she grabbed her black chestplate and remembered she needed to wear her guard uniform.

"I suddenly don't feel so bad about my training," Weiss said as she turned a page in her book. "Even I haven't mastered that technique, but I think the Court Mage would throw meteors at me until I master the barrier." She shuddered at the thought before turning to Ruby as the younger girl pulled on a red tunic and slipped on a black skirt. "What about Blake?"

"She's still helping Yang learn to read, but since she's at this point, she has a lot of free time. She's helping a lot on the farm, especially during the harvest. Her katana is apparently useful for cutting down corn. Aside from helping the hunters on the island to improve her bow skills, she takes trips to Vale to search for interesting books."

"It's good to hear they're doing fine," Weiss said with a sigh. "If only we could get away from the castle for a long time. We could travel to Patch and see them."

"Yeah, I miss them too," Ruby told her as she lowered herself to the ground and reached under the bed to pull out her scythe. "I could maybe ask for a month off to travel, but Captain Brynn probably wouldn't allow it, and I'd probably have to leave you behind."

"Well, we could always-" Weiss said before she was suddenly cut off by sharp knocking at her door.

"Miss Schnee, are you awake?" they both could hear Klein ask from behind the door. "It's nearly noon and you weren't present at breakfast."

"I'm awake, Klein," Weiss called back from her desk. "I'm here with Ruby, studying."

"Right, Miss Rose," Klein said entering the room carrying a tray with two plates of food. "Your guard duty starts soon and I would hurry to the barracks if I were you, I saw Captain Brynn walking around with a cross look on his face."

"Oh no, he's going to kill me," Ruby said grabbing her crossbow before bolting out of the room.

"Well then, I prepared this plate for nothing," Klein said looking towards the second plate on his tray with a disappointed expression before placing the other one on Weiss's desk. He then looked around the room seeing Ruby's discarded armor around the room and her cloak hanging on the edge of the desk. "Shall I bring Miss Rose's armor back to her quarters?"

"Uhh, sure, Klein," Weiss said looking at the armor causing her cheeks to turn red after she remembered what they did the night before, "just be sure not to tell anyone where you found this armor."

"Of course," he said then proceeded to pick up the armor pieces before looking back at Weiss seeing her in her robe causing the man to raise an eyebrow. He shook his head to dismiss any further thoughts then remembered another reason he came here. "I should also inform you that your presence is requested in the throne room as soon as you can."

"I'll head over there as soon as I am dressed, you can leave now," she said getting out of her chair and walking towards her wardrobe.

"What about your lunch?" he asked carrying a small box of Ruby's armor.

"I'll run by the kitchens after I'm done in the throne room."

"And after I prepared this for you," Klein muttered to himself with a sigh as he picked up the tray and exited the room.

"What does father want?" Weiss asked herself in annoyance as she pulled on a long blue dress that faded to light blue near the bottom before tying a white around her waist. Slipping on a long sleeved blue shrug before fastening a sapphire broach on her collar, she looked over to the mirror and tied her hair in a simple ponytail letting it drape over her right shoulder. She stepped away from her dresser to her bannister before opening the glass case and seeing her rapier inside. Pulling the blade from the box, she secured it to her waist before leaving the room.

* * *

Ruby ran into the barracks before she came face-to-face with Mercury. Before she could collide with him, the man launched himself up to the ceiling before jumping back down and slamming his boot through the wooden floor where Ruby was.

He looked around for a moment before seeing Ruby looking at him with a shocked expression. "Red, I know you got back from your time off, but I told you before, don't suddenly burst in here," he said as he pulled his boot from the floor.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm not late, am I?" she asked him as she looked around the empty barracks. "I heard the captain was looking angry today."

"You're not late," he assured her causing the girl to breathe a sigh of relief. "The captain was here earlier, but he only told me to bring you to the throne room before we go relieve Logan and Erdin on the wall."

"Why would we be needed in the throne room?" Ruby asked as she entered the women's quarters to find her armor.

"Well, I don't think I'm the one whose presence is requested," he said as he walked over to the doorway and rested on the nearby wall.

"What was that? I can't hear you through the door," Ruby told him as she slipped on her chestplate.

"I said-" he replied, raising his voice before Ruby cut him off.

"What? Just open the door," she told him causing the man to sigh as he pushed the door inward. "Now, what did you say?"

"Nevermind," he said resting his head against the wall. "You know, if someone saw this right now, they might start some unsavory rumors about you and me." He was suddenly caught off guard by Ruby's laughter from inside the room. "What?"

"No one would make up any rumors about us," she told him as she pulled on her gauntlets. "You're too much like an older brother that nobody would even imagine you trying to get with me. Anyway, I haven't even seen you show any interest in women."

"Wha- hey!" he shouted, getting off the wall to look into the room. "I know what you're insinuating, and I'll have you know that if I wanted to, I could make you fall for me easily. I just choose not to."

"I highly doubt it," she told him as she entered the main room and looked at him. "You are not my type." She smirked at him before exiting the barracks leaving him alone.

"Stupid mission, why can't I just kill her already?" he asked himself. "If Emerald were here, she'd be laughing her ass off."

* * *

As Mercury and Ruby entered the throne room, they were greeted to the sight of Jacques sitting in his marble throne with Ironwood and Captain Brynn on each side of him. In front of them was Weiss holding her hands together in front of herself with a worried look on her face. As they approached, they could see Brynn's angered expression directed towards Ruby.

"Mister Black, you can wait on the side of the hall, this will only be a moment," Brynn said motioning for Mercury to step aside. He raised an eyebrow to look at Ruby before walking away to lean on a nearby pillar.

"F-father," Weiss said before she cleared her throat, "father, why did you summon us here?"

"It has come to my attention that you and Miss Rose left castle grounds together for three days to take on an Adventurers' Guild mission," Jacques said looking at the two. He let out a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I have known about your activities for the last year, and I believed that you would eventually quit that organization full of barbarians and ingrates, but the fact that you would go on a guild mission so close to your magic test…" He let out a short groan as his hand lowered down to the arm rest of the throne. "Samuel has been gone for two weeks to travel to the magic college in the north and should return soon. You should be mentally preparing yourself for your test."

"I-I understand father, but-"

"Hush," he said raising his hand. "You will not be leaving the castle grounds until Samuel returns from the north, so you can prepare for your test." He then looked over to Ruby and gestured towards the Knight Captain. "Captain Brynn, I believe you have something to tell your subordinate."

Brynn stepped forward and looked down at Ruby. "Miss Rose, due to your actions as of late, you will be suspended from duty for two weeks, starting tomorrow."

"What!?" both girls shouted immediately.

"You may be taking this a bit too far," Ironwood interjected, but Brynn ignored his superior.

"Taking a member of the royal family off castle grounds to a location that is dangerous to their health is a serious offence. Not to mention you brought one of the princesses capable of magic and risking exposing her power to the public," Brynn said to Ruby then smirked, "That and your various improper actions as a knight make me question whether you are even fit for this job. If it were up to me, I would fire you immediately."

"But I-" Ruby said before Brynn's glare caused her to suddenly go quiet.

"I would advise you to choose your next words wisely."

"If I may interrupt," Mercury interjected, stepping forward, "but that punishment is stupid."

"What are you saying Mercury?" Brynn asked him, diverting his glare towards the man. "Do you think it is the wisest choice to insult the decision made by me and the king?"

"Well, I believe that the king was heavily influenced by your own personal feelings towards Ruby, and you also don't even know all of the facts concerning this situation," he said with a smirk as he stepped between Ruby and Brynn.

"And are you saying that you do know all the facts here, Mister Black?" Jacques asked him, leaning over in his chair to listen. "If you do, I would like to hear them."

"Three days ago, Ruby had time off that was given to her by Captain Brynn. She was then approached by the princess and they decided to go on a guild mission, considering that they need to take missions throughout a year, so they can retain their memberships with the guild. They went on a mission to clear out a goblin nest and rescue any captives held inside. After they finished the mission, they returned to the palace perfectly intact," he told them, glancing back at Ruby and Weiss.

"Are you making a point here, or should Miss Rose's suspension include you?" Brynn asked him, getting even more annoyed.

"I was getting to that, but unfortunately I need to breathe," he told him, emphasizing his point by taking a deep breath before continuing which only caused more annoyance to the captain. "Both Ruby and the princess use aliases when they go on their missions, so they can avoid suspicions. The princess even refrains from using her magic in town. Then there is the fact that if someone were to recognize the princess after she helped save citizens of this city, it would only promote faith in the royal family since the public would believe that the royal family actually cares enough about the people to put themselves in harm's way." He paused to look over to Jacques and noticed that he was becoming interested. "Also, this was beneficial to the princess since part of her magic test involves being sent into the Fade to form a bond with a spirit, but there is the possibility she has to face against a demon. While she is skilled in magic, the princess is also skilled in her fencing and since she has a magic artifact she can bring into the Fade that can create weapons, it would make sense for her to practice fighting opponents that are not people."

"He does make a good point," Ironwood said to Jacques.

"Also, it is no secret that Captain Brynn does not like Ruby, so his own personal feelings influenced his decision in this matter," Mercury continued. "If it had been any other knight, Captain Brynn would have commended them and maybe even given them a promotion. If anything, this meeting should just be a slap on the wrists since there's no need for excessive disciplinary actions."

"Fine," Jacques said then sighed as he watched several nobles enter the throne room on the far side of the room, "but you will need to be punished, Miss Rose. Instead of a two-week suspension, you will simply be suspended for one day." He then stood up from his throne. "All of you may leave now. I have business to attend to. James, come along."

Ironwood simply nodded as he followed Jacques through the throne room to the nobles and led them to a hallway on the side of the room. Brynn walked over to Mercury and grabbed his collar before picking the younger man off the ground.

"Do you think is wise, _boy_?" Brynn asked him, the malice dripping off every word. "I could make your life a living hell."

"First off, don't call me 'boy,'" Mercury told him as he reached up and wrenched the older man's hand off his shirt. "Secondly, you have no _idea_ what a living hell is. So, I'll advise you not to threaten me."

Brynn pulled his hand free and turned around to leave the throne room. "Black and Rose, report to the wall for your duties today. Rose, I better not see you tomorrow." He then left the room and slammed the door behind himself causing the two girls to jump in surprise.

"Come on, Red, we have wall duty today," Mercury said as he turned around and started walking towards the main door, the girls seeing an intense glare on his face.

"R-right," Ruby said as she started walking out before stopping to turn to Weiss. She reached out and held her hands before lowering her voice enough that Mercury couldn't hear. "I have some place to be after guard duty, but I'll be back later tonight."

"Alright, I have some training to do tonight, but after that we can be together," Weiss said as she felt Ruby let go of her hands and follow Mercury out of the large room.

* * *

"T-thank you, for back there," Ruby said to Mercury as they walked across the castle grounds to the western wall near the forest.

"For what?" he asked her, briefly looking back at her as they passed by a snow-covered statue of Jacques and Weiss's mother.

"For defending me and Weiss in the throne room," she told him as she increased her pace to walk beside him.

"Oh, it's no problem, I just hate people like him," he told her as his face formed a scowl while he looked ahead. He stopped for a second and looked at his boots before continuing forward.

"Right, but I do have to ask, how did you know all that stuff Weiss and I did?"

"Well, I'm apparently like an elder brother, so it's natural I'd keep tabs on you," he told her, keeping his head turned so she couldn't see his agitated expression.

"It's kind of creepy though."

"Trust me, there are plenty of other things I would rather do with my time," he said with a sigh as they approached the wall while he tried to come up with an excuse. "In all honesty, it was a coincidence that I found out about your guild mission. I just happened to be in the market when I noticed you and the princess enter the guild. I followed in, saw the mission you took, and went about my day."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," she said as she started to climb the ladder to the wall. "Logan, Erdin, we're here to take over guard duty."

"Well, it's about damn time," Logan said as Erdin slowly got out of his chair near a small fire. The dragon slayer simply stretched for a moment before he leapt off the wall, followed shortly after by Edrin sliding down the ladder. "Try to keep the fire going, night comes sooner than you think."

"I don't think we're going to be out here for that long. Carol and Aaron are going to be replacing us shortly after dark," Mercury told them as he watched a regular bird-sized nevermore land on a nearby tree and look at him. "What the hell could she want now?"

"I think Ruby wants you to join her on the wall," Logan said causing Mercury to realize he was thinking out loud.

"Hm," he grunted in response before launching himself off the ground and landing on top of the wall.

"What did they say to you?" Ruby asked him as she threw a log on the fire while the two other knights walked back to the barracks.

"Nothing important," he told her as the nevermore cawed at him and pointed its beak at a small paper roll that was wrapped around its leg.

* * *

Weiss held a glowing green potion in her hands, looking it over while she sat at her desk. She reached over to the side of her desk and picked up one of her gauntlets, slipping it on before making sure it was secured on tight on her right hand.

Taking a deep breath, she uncorked the bottle and drank the green fluid. Placing the bottle back on the table, she leaned back in her chair and let out a long sigh as she tilted her head backwards. She reached over to her belt and made sure the magic hilt was sill secured around her waist. Then she looked around the room for a moment before her eyes slowly closed themselves.

Opening her eyes, Weiss found herself in a brightly lit building that had towering walls covered in filled bookcases. Raising her right hand up, she could see that she was no longer wearing her armor. Looking up, she could see that the ceiling of this building had large gaping holes and in places it seemed like broken parts were floating. When she looked closer, she could see that on the ceiling was what appeared to be a mural of an army of spirits, humans, and faunus fighting against an army of demons and grimm, but at the front of the demon army Weiss saw a humanoid figure that appeared to be a tall woman. As she tried to see what the woman's face looked like, she saw that the paint had faded to the point of obscurity.

As she stood up, Weiss made the mistake of looking down and seeing she was on a floating portion of the floor and below that she could see only an endless sea of white light. Looking through the various holes in the walls, she make out various structures of a large castle along with floating humanoid figures of various bright colored mists.

Weiss turned to her side and saw a large segment of the building that was still connected to the rest of the building. Placing her bare right hand on her platform, she focused magic into her hand causing ice to shoot out and connect to the large platform before expanding to make an ice bridge. Walking onto the large platform, Weiss suddenly came face-to-face with a glowing blue figure causing her to fall backwards in surprise.

"What? A Human? Here?" the figure asked as it leaned in to look Weiss over. Its voice appeared to be feminine, but it also sounded distorted enough that she couldn't be clear. "What are you doing here? How did you get to this place?"

"Ow," Weiss said as she picked herself up and rubbed her back. "I'm here to train. I know I'm in the Fade, but where am I and what are you?"

"I am… I am… I don't remember my real name, but there are some who call me Curiosity," it greeted Weiss as she walked over to one of the bookshelves. "This is the Library of Knowledge."

"What kind of knowledge does this place hold?" Weiss asked Curiosity as she tried to pull a book from the shelf only to have her hand pass through. "Why can't I touch these books?"

"Only Knowledge can allow a human to read one of her books," Curiosity answered her as it leaned in. "You're a mage, but how can you be _here_?"

"What are you taking about? I entered the Fade by drinking a potion my teacher made to make me sleep," Weiss told her as she crossed her arms in front of herself. "Are you saying that mages never come here?"

"No, humans try to come here every decade or so seeking Knowledge's power, but there has been no human here for the last century," she answered her. "There has been talk among the spirits that no human will ever return to speak with the master. Some fear her purpose will become corrupted."

"Then that means it'll become a demon," Weiss said as she looked around. "Can you take me to this Spirit of Knowledge." She took a step forward only to feel her legs start numbing. Once she looked down, she saw her legs start to fade. "Oh no, it's too soon."

"What is happening to you, human?"

"I'm waking up," Weiss answered her. "The potion I drank wasn't strong enough to keep me here for too long." She tried to take another step only to remain still. "Curiosity, I'll be back in a few days. When I do, I need to speak with this Spirit of Knowledge. Can you bring me there?"

"Yes, but what is your name?" Curiosity asked her as Weiss's arms finished disappearing.

"My name is Weiss-" Before she could finish, Weiss's head disappeared. Everything was black, but the image of the library was seared in her mind.

Weiss's eyes shot open as she suddenly sat up in her chair. Raising her right hand, she could see that she was wearing her gauntlet causing her to breathe a sigh of relief that she was in the real world. Then she remembered what Curiosity had told her.

Bolting forward in her chair, she opened one of the desk drawers and pulled out a large sheet of paper and an inkwell. She took one quill and dipped it into the ink before writing 'Library of Knowledge' on the top of the paper. Then she started drawing everything about the structure she could remember. Partway through drawing the building, she took a moment to write 'Curiosity.'

* * *

Ruby walked through the city carrying a large box filled with various weapon parts. She had returned to wearing her normal clothing, making sure to have her hood pulled over her head to disguise herself. After a while of walking down the cobblestone streets, she came to a large building that appeared to be a warehouse made of a single piece of a black stone with several man-made smoke stacks sticking out of the top.

Entering the building, Ruby came into a large lobby area and on the far side of the room was a counter with two people behind it. The first one was a large muscular bald man wearing a brown blacksmith apron and the other one was a middle-aged woman with brown and gray hair who waved at Ruby as she entered.

"The young Miss Xiao Long," the woman greeted Ruby as she approached the counter. "I see you're here again, and with weapon parts no less. What are you going to be making today? Are you finally going to show me the masterpiece you're working on?"

"Helen, I've told you before that my last name is Rose," Ruby told her as she placed the box on the counter, "and I wouldn't call what I'm making a masterpiece."

"You are the daughter of the legendary blacksmith, Taiyang Xiao Long," Helen said causing Ruby to let out a short laugh. "That scythe you made is nothing less than a masterpiece, and you told me that you made it. So, anything else you create is probably better than anything than most blacksmiths here can make."

"You give me too much credit, my sister was the blacksmith, I was the farm hand," Ruby said as she scratched the back of her head. "Anyway, I need to use a private forge for a few hours tonight. Are there any open rooms?"

"Miss Xiao Long, this building is an empty dungeon that spans underneath the capital city for miles, of course we have an empty forge," she said causing Ruby to pick up her box and follow the woman through the large doors.

They walked down the large staircase for a short period of time until they reached a long hallway that Ruby could hear the sounds of hammers striking metal. They went further down the hallway until Helen brought her to an empty room.

After she closed the door behind her, Ruby made sure to lock it before going in further. She placed the large box on a nearby table and looked at it for a moment before tipping the box over causing most of the weapon parts to fall onto the table and the rest onto the floor. She walked over to the side of the table and reached into the pile. Pulling out a small wooden box, she walked over to the forges and started a fire. As she let the forge heat up, Ruby sat on a nearby char and opened the wooden box.

Inside of the box were various pieces of gold jewelry and two small molds, each with a circular indent. She smiled at the gold pieces before placing them in a large cast iron ladle. Then once the forge heated up enough, Ruby placed the ladle into the middle of the fire, letting the gold inside heat up.

After waiting for a while, the gold had melted to the point it was a liquid. She reached over and pulled out the ladle before bringing the gold over to the two molds and pouring it inside each of them.

Once the metal cooled down enough, Ruby pulled out the two golden rings and admired them for a second. She then pulled out her other tools and smoothed down the rough edges of the rings and polished them, giving the rings a bright shine.

Putting the slightly larger ring on her finger, her cheeks started to heat up at the sight of the band. Her line of sight slowly turned to the second ring sitting on the table causing her mind to fill with questions, but one seemed to be more prominent than the others to the point she asked herself aloud, "Will she say yes?"

* * *

 **So yeah, that happened. Originally I was going to have the timeskip be half a year, but then that idea would make it seem like Ruby is rushing their relationship a little bit, so I changed it to a year. Now Ruby just needs to find the right time to propose.**

 **Captain Brynn is a dick, simple as that. I hated but also enjoyed writing the scene when Mercury defended Ruby since it seems like it would be slightly out of character for him, but then I remembered his mission, so it turned out fine.**

 **Weiss is making some friends in the Fade. Remember what Glynda told Weiss about forming bonds with spirits way back when? Well, that's basically what Weiss is going to do in this arc.**

 **Also, another interesting thing that's happened is the face that Ruby as outgrown her armor. Since she doesn't have any spare chainmail, she can't modify her chainmail suit. I mean, she has her cloak, but that's something she would never dismantle.**

 **I'm just going to shamelessly plug this in again because I think it's worth it, but you guys should check out the Princess and the Rose manga. It's just a portion of the first chapter, but there's something about seeing the chapter illustrated as opposed to just words on a screen that seems worth it. So you can read them on my Tumblr account and if you want to go to the artist, her username is 'manu-chann' on DeviantArt.**

 **Now with this chapter being done with setting up storylines, I can get back to actually telling them so the next chapters should be more interesting.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	71. A Simple Sparring Session

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A and this is the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. I actually managed to get this chapter out on time, which is surprising considering the past few chapters' posting dates. Now, I know tomorrow is Christmas, for me at least, but this is not a Christmas chapter. I considered it, but then decided against it since I haven't really progressed the plot recently, so we get the next actual chapter.**

 **I didn't have a lot of time to write this chapter since I had to go to a few family Christmases which took up most of my time. So this chapter might not be that great, but that might be me just being hard on myself. I don't know, I might go back and edit this chapter during the week.**

 **Onto reviews!**

 **metalcorpse: oh yeah it will, it would basically be like if Yang suddenly became evil, the sudden act of betrayal. I was considering making the spirit like an owl, but that was one of the possibilities.**

 **k wolf omega: Yeah, I mean I like writing this AU since I have a ton of freedom to do what I like, and if BLZEing Remnant showed anything, it's that I have a lot of random, non-canon ideas. Also, since you recently read through the whole story, Whiterose isn't going to break up (possibly) but I will not refrain from beating them up, kinda like with the warehouse and Roman.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: He may or may not go insane, we'll find out later. You have not seen anything yet with how much of a prick Brynn can be. Also, you're going to be waiting for a while.**

 **Yakosh: He most likely won't.**

 **iamking: It's interesting writing this Mercury, but I'm constantly second guessing myself when writing him.**

 **Enjoy  
**

* * *

Ruby entered Weiss's room in the middle of the night, seeing her girlfriend sitting at her desk drawing on a piece of paper. In her hands, she held a small velvet bag containing the two gold rings that caused her cheeks to heat up every time she thought about them. As soon as the door closed behind her, Weiss jumped in her chair and immediately turned around, creating a dagger with ice that she was about to throw.

"Ruby!?" she exclaimed as she stood up and started walking towards the younger girl, letting the ice dagger fall to the floor and crumble to pieces. "I didn't hear you enter. I've told you time and time again to knock before you enter."

"I-I'm sorry, but it was night and sneaking through the halls was difficult enough without drawing attention to myself, and I had a key…" Ruby trailed off before she realized something. "Hey, you gave me a key so I could enter silently."

"I… well…" Weiss sputtered out as she realized Ruby was right. "Sorry, I've just been a bit jumpy since my training session."

"Did something happen?" she asked her as she placed a hand on her shoulder. "Did you encounter a demon?"

"No, nothing like that, well, maybe," she answered her which only confused her. "Just come see this." She reached up and held Ruby's hand before leading her to the desk where she could see Weiss's drawing of the Library of Knowledge. "The last few times I went into the Fade I never went anywhere, until today. According to Samuel, if I travelled here before, I can return there again for my test by thinking about it."

"Did something happen in this library?" Ruby asked her as she placed Crescent Rose against the desk and took the paper to look at the image closer.

"The spirit in control of this domain is in danger with the possibility of being corrupted, which means it might turn into a demon," Weiss told her causing Ruby to immediately turn to her.

"You aren't think about going back there, right?" she asked her, causing Weiss to raise an eyebrow at her. "Last time you fought a demon, I was possessed and we both had to fight against the fear demon."

"This spirit isn't a demon yet, and if I can help it at all, I will," she told her. "Older spirits like that, especially ones that control a domain, are highly resistant to being corrupted. I may have some time to save it."

"Fine," Ruby said as she puffed out her cheeks a little, "but just in case I want to keep sparring with you if the spirit does become a demon."

"Alright, thanks for worrying about me," Weiss said as she leaned against Ruby for a moment before tilting her head up to kiss her on the cheek. She then looked down and saw the small velvet bag she was holding. "What do you have there?"

"O-oh, i-its nothing," Ruby managed to say as she slipped the bag into a pouch hanging on the side of her belt. "For now, we should focus on your test."

"Ok, but right now," Weiss let out a short yawn, "it is late, so we should sleep." As she walked over to her bed, she turned around and looked at Ruby who was standing there looking at her belt pouch with a blush on her face. "Are you coming, or are you going to the barracks for the night?"

"Well, Captain Brynn's already on the warpath, and I did come here already," Ruby said with a smirk as Weiss led her by the hand over to the large white bed.

* * *

"Morning," Ruby greeted Weiss as soon as the princess woke up.

"Mmmm," Weiss mumbled as she rolled over with a yawn to face the younger girl and looked her over. "Did you sleep in your regular clothes last night?"

"Yes, we both agreed that I couldn't leave clothes here to avoid suspicion, so I didn't have a pair of clothes to change into," she said as she slipped out of bed and stretched. "Anyway, you didn't have any problem sleeping in the same clothes you were wearing before when we were adventuring last year, and you did the same thing when we went on that guild mission a few days ago."

"All of it silent torture, trust me," she muttered as she let out another yawn, "but the chainmail suit is like a second skin, so it's comfortable enough. The only real problem is if the armor gets muddy or covered in blood."

"Or you're just not as much as a pampered princess as everyone thinks you are," she said with a cheeky grin as she turned around to face her girlfriend.

"Oh lord, you're starting to act like your sister," Weiss said as she rolled her eyes. "How can she have that affect on you through her letters?"

"Well, she actually told me to make some sort of 'pampered princess' comment so she could mess with you from a different continent," Ruby told her, only causing the princess to groan as she slipped out of the bed. "Don't worry you can get your revenge some way or another."

"I could set a bounty on her head claiming she's an enemy of the kingdom," Weiss suggested, the malice in her voice sending shivers down Ruby's spine.

"Uhh, heh heh, Weiss… you aren't serious about that… are you?" Ruby nervously asked her, taking a few steps back as Weiss started to slip on her chainmail.

"What? No, no, of course not," Weiss said waving her off, "but if she was actually here it might be different."

"All right," Ruby said stretching out her words as she walked towards the desk and retrieved her scythe. "So, since I have the day off, instead of our usual fencing lessons, do you think we can try fighting like normal?"

"You just want to use your unnatural speed, don't you?" she asked her as she crossed her arms in front of herself, raising an eyebrow. Ruby simply scratched the back of her head and chuckled.

* * *

Ruby grunted as she slammed the blade of her scythe into the large ice pillar, cutting it at the base. She then spun around and kicked the rest of the pillar back at Weiss. The princess quickly flicked her hand causing the ice to crumble so it wouldn't hurt her.

While the ice chunks were still falling, Weiss didn't notice as Ruby suddenly appeared right behind her. The reaper then slammed the back side of her scythe into Weiss's back throwing the princess several feet through the air.

As Weiss was flying, she grabbed the magic hilt from her belt, creating a dagger blade before stabbing it into the ground to slow herself. After she picked herself up, she dragged her rapier around herself in a circle covering the surrounding area in ice. She then turned the magic blade into a rapier before swinging it to the side to send a large icicle flying to where Ruby was.

Ruby had to bolt off to the side to avoid the projectile, but then she immediately ran at her. Just before her feet touched the ice, she jumped forward with both feet aimed at Weiss. As Ruby was flying through the air, Weiss flicked her hand upward creating a solid wall of ice that intercepted the younger girl's feet causing her to land on the slick surface of the ice.

While Ruby was distracted Weiss quickly focused magic into her rapier causing the blade to glow a bright white before she sliced downward to her right leaving a magic line suspended in the air. She then placed her right hand against the line while still holing her magic hilt with two fingers before she pressed against the line causing it to open into a large glowing circle.

Ruby was on her back trying to stand up only to fall back on the ground. Thinking for a moment, she rolled onto her back and held her scythe in her left hand before slamming the back side of her weapon into the ice on her right, shattering it. She twisted her body so she was on the rougher ground and stood up, using that opportunity to stab her scythe into the ice wall and launch herself over it.

She barely had any time to react before the broad side of a giant sword slammed into her side, throwing her back. As soon as her body collided with the ground, she had to let go of her scythe causing it to fly through the air and stab into the ground. Once Ruby picked herself up, she looked up and saw Weiss standing next to a floating arm with a strained look on her face.

The arm suddenly flickered for a moment before disappearing completely causing Weiss to suddenly gasp. Ruby was about to run over to check on her, but Weiss wiped sweat from her brow before sending Ruby a quick glare. The princess then swung her sword upward sending a large icicle flying at the reaper forcing her to bolt to the side.

Ruby quickly drew her crossbow causing Weiss to thrust her right hand forward and create a barrier dome around herself. Ruby then carefully aimed her crossbow to the left before firing the bolt into the barrier. It bent in for a moment before the bolt broke through and shattered the barrier causing Weiss to stumble.

While Weiss was distracted, Ruby ran forward and grabbed her scythe before sprinting towards her girlfriend. Weiss then managed to regain her footing before she created a blade of magic and stabbed it into the ground. Just before her feet touched the ice, Ruby jumped over it while bringing her scythe to the side to prepare for an attack.

As soon as her feet touched the clear ground, ice suddenly sprouted upwards trapping Ruby's feet. She then came face-to-face with the tip of a rapier.

"My win," Weiss said with a smirk as she pulled the magic blade from the ground.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Ruby said then looked downward. Once Weiss looked over she could see the tip of Crescent Rose's blade pressing lightly against her side. "Any further and I would've pierced your chainmail."

"Fine, we'll call this match a draw," Weiss said as she flicked her hand off to the side causing all the ice nearby to crumble before disappearing. She then reached into her side pouch and pulled out a glowing blue potion. "Just give me a second to replenish my magic. Then we can start another spar."

"This'll be the fifth match, I need to take a quick break," Ruby said as she walked over to a nearby wall before sitting down and resting her back against it. "My chainmail is really starting to pinch when I try to run fast. I might have to stop wearing soon."

"Did you manage to send a letter last night?" Weiss asked her as she sat down next to her.

"Yeah, you'd be surprised at the amount of letters sent to Patch from the capital. Most of them are apparently from blacksmiths wanting to become dad's apprentice, but I know he already has a deal with a boy from Patch to teach him after Yang's apprenticeship is officially over." Ruby then let out a groan as she rolled her shoulder. "Yeah, I'm going to have to stop wearing my armor. In the last match my movements were too stiff."

"Nevertheless, it was impressive," a voice said startling the two. Once they turned around they could see Mercury walking towards them while clapping. "Most people in Atlas wouldn't even try fighting against a mage, but you seem to have no problem with magic, Red."

"Mercury, what are you doing here?" she asked him as he walked over to a nearby post and leaned against it.

"Well, after yesterday's altercation with Captain Brynn, I decided to check the schedule and I found out that instead of guard duty patrolling the castle tonight I had early morning duty on the wall," he said mildly annoyed.

"I'm sorry about that," Weiss said to him. "If you didn't step in yesterday, Captain Brynn wouldn't have you in his sights."

"It's fine, like I told Red yesterday, I hate guys like him," he said with a sigh. "So, you're sparring today?"

"Yes, I just need to prepare for my test, and if I run into any demons, I don't think they will fight me in a fencing match," she told him.

"Oh, Mercury, you should fight Weiss!" Ruby exclaimed as she reached over and shook Weiss's shoulder. "He's good at close combat so it'll be a lot different than fighting against me all the time."

"I don't think you want me to do that," Mercury said to her.

"What? I'm sure it'll be fine," Weiss said standing up. "If either of us get hurt I can heal us."

"I don't think you understand-"

"It'll be fine, I need to practice against hand-to-hand fighters anyway," she said walking out into the training yard and drawing her rapier.

"Fine, but I hope you understand, I tried stop this," he said then launched himself forward directly at Weiss.

She barely managed to create a personal barrier around herself, letting the magic absorb the impact from his boots. Then she watched as her barrier was absorbed by the boots causing the metal to glow white. As he landed on the ground, Ruby and Weiss watched as a magic barrier spread over his body.

He smirked then shot his right knee forward, connecting with Weiss's abdomen knocking her back. Then with the same leg, he shot his foot upward kicking her chin which caused white light to flow from her and into his boots. He bolted forward and kicked her in the side with his other boot while she was still in the air, throwing her to the ground while causing the magic to flow into that boot.

As soon as she landed on the ground, Mercury slammed his right foot into the ground in between Weiss's legs causing ice to shoot from the ground and trap her legs. He leapt back for a moment while she was trapped and ran to her side. Then he shot his left foot to the side of her head, but suddenly pulled back as his foot causing a large icicle to fire from his boots and imbed itself in the ground next to the princess's face.

"And I win," he said stunning them both. He then kicked the ice on Weiss's legs shattering it and freeing her.

"How did you do that?" Weiss asked him as she picked herself while Ruby ran over to help her to her feet. "You stole my barrier and used my magic against me. Are you some kind of mage?"

"No, I can't use magic," he answered her then gestured towards his boots, "these boots are enchanted metal that allow me to absorb barriers and somewhat use a mage's magic if they connect with one. I don't have perfect control over the magic like you, but it makes for a useful surprise that catches my enemies off guard."

"So that's how you beat her in almost an instant," Ruby said out loud which caused Mercury to laugh.

"Well, I am a skilled fighter," he told them. "When I fought that undead army, I would alternate between kicking liches and using their magic against the zombies and draugr."

"Those boots must be worth a fortune," Weiss said as she looked at the boots.

"If I could sell them, I would," he told her confusing the girls. "Right, you don't know. I can never take these off."

"Why is that?"

"Well, they're cursed," he said shocking the girls. "It's not a death curse or a painful one, I can just never remove my boots. They've become a part of my body, so it doesn't bother me anymore, and its enchantment is incredibly useful. If the boots become damaged at all, they heal themselves, so I permanently have armor. It's not a big deal, really." Before they could ask any further questions, he simply turned around and started walking away. "Anyway, I should probably get back to my quarters and let you two get back to practicing. See you later, Princess, Red."

* * *

 **So yeah, Ruby didn't propose in this chapter, and probably won't during this arc. Ruby is an awkward and shy character, so she wouldn't want to distract Weiss when she's trying to prepare for her magic test.**

 **We finally get to learn about Mercury's boots. Since really advanced prosthetic legs wouldn't fit in the medieval theme I had to think about how to give him metal legs, so boots he can never take off. Then I had to figure out his projectiles, so why not have him steal a mage's magic and use it against them?**

 **Anyway, I am extremely tired from dealing with family, so I'm going to cut this short.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	72. A Day With Mercury

**Hello everyone, this is J. Van A with the last chapter of the year, unless of course you're in a timezone where midnight has passed which I guess means this is the first chapter of the year. Anyway, I haven't really had much time to work on this chapter this week because I went back to my parents' house for new years, and as I've mentioned many times before, the internet here sucks.**

 **So, I'll need to make this fast.**

 **Reviews**

 **Yakosh: The idea was sort of to get Ruby to understand what the boots do, but if I was going to have him attack Weiss in the near future, then I wouldn't have had him do it.**

 **k wolf omega: I mean, Ruby would rather focus on Weiss and helping her than distracting her, which is why something important didn't really happen during the timeskip, but that's info for future chapters.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: I can make him more scary. I think the easiest way to explain it is the more contact his boots have with the mage, the more magic it absorbs, like if he were to stomp on someone and hold it there, he could fire off a more powerful spell.**

 **iamking: it was either cursed boots or peg legs, and I needed to make him threatening.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Mercury groaned as he walked into the male quarters of the guard barracks and fell onto his bed. Looking around the room he could see several knights bickering while they played Wicked Grace. After making sure nobody was paying him any attention, he reached into his jacked and pulled out a plain leather-bound book with strips of paper sticking out of the pages. He flipped through the pages for a while until he opened to the last strip of paper that read, _'Attend the princess's magic test. Maintain your cover and keep advancing towards your mission. I'm sending someone who will reach you in the next few days, they will have more information.'_

"Who the hell could she be sending?" Mercury muttered to himself as he closed his book and slipped it back into his jacket. "She's stuck in Vale with Mr. Grumpy. Emerald and the dwarf are somewhere with Roman." He let out a long groan as he stretched to make himself comfortable. "Now let's see if Brynn took the bait." With a small chuckle, he closed his eyes.

* * *

In the morning, many of the knights had gathered in the courtyard outside the barracks. Ruby walked outside the building while adjusting her armor. As she walked over to Mercury, he could see that underneath her Atlesian armor, she wasn't wearing her usual black chainmail.

"Hey, Red, ready for the big announcement?" Mercury asked her, giving her a cocky grin. "Wonder what it's about?"

"Ah, well, I kind of already know," Ruby said as she made sure her scythe was secured to her back. "Weiss already told me."

"I know you two are friends, but do you visit her every morning?" he asked her while raising his eyebrow. "Normal people usually can't do anything in the morning, yet you are up and about going for a morning jog around the castle despite it being winter."

"That's because my armor protects me from the cold… though, since my chainmail isn't fitting properly anymore, I can't go for as long of jogs in the mornings."

"Yeah, because you _really_ need to work on your running," he said with a chuckle which only caused Ruby to playfully punch his shoulder.

"Everyone, form up!" Captain Brynn shouted as he exited the barracks with Commander Ironwood following behind him. The knights immediately moved into two lines of five with their arms at their side.

"I see you've taken your job as Knight Captain very seriously, Caleb," Ironwood said which only caused Brynn to smirk. "Nevertheless, there's easier ways to keep your knights in line." He took a step forward and looked over the knights. "As some of you know, Court Wizard Samuel returned last night from his trip to the north, which means we have to prepare for the princess's magic test. During the test, both Princess Weiss and Samuel will be vulnerable, which is where we come in. Knight Captain Brynn will be present, but we need two other knights standing guard."

"The reason the ten of you are here right now, is that you are the best we have to offer from the knights under my command," Brynn said then looked over Ruby and Mercury, "however much I wish that wasn't so." He walked past the two and looked to the rest of the knights. "We will be having a small contest to determine just who will stand guard: an all-out free-for-all. When I give the signal, you will begin. How you fight depends on you, but ultimately, there needs to be two victors."

"I would suggest you form teams of two," Ironwood told them as he stepped forward. "For tests like these, it is advisable that the ones on guard be able to work as a team. You have some time before the contest begins, use it wisely and stay in the courtyard."

The knights were confused as they looked at their superiors then to each other. Eventually, several of the knights grouped up and made their way to certain sections of the courtyard. Ruby then looked over several of the knights and saw most of them were eyeing her and Mercury. The only ones that weren't were Logan and Erdin, who seemed too distracted fighting with each other.

"You see it too, right?" Mercury asked her as he approached, getting a nod in response. "I think this might be part of Brynn's plan to make our lives a living hell. He probably told the other knights to take us down first since we're decent fighters, but he simply wants to possibly humiliate us for the other day."

"I guess that makes us a team," Ruby said as she crossed her arms in front of herself and looked up at him. "Your boots are good at fighting against mages, and there are three out there, each specializing in combat and barrier magic."

"Right, right, Logan, Carol, and John," Mercury said as he cracked his neck. "The Dragonslayer, the Archer, and the Paladin. Not as connected to the Fade as spellcasters, but their magic is useful in combat." He paused for a moment before looking down at Ruby. "So, I assume you have a plan."

"Well, I do, but it might be a bit mean."

"I like it so far, continue," he said with a smirk.

* * *

"Begin!" Brynn shouted as be brought his arm down, signaling to the knights to begin.

Ruby immediately had to duck to avoid a magic arrow aimed at her chest. She then spun around while swinging the back end of her scythe at Mercury. He jumped up at the last second, placing his feet against the metal haft and using it as a platform to launch himself at a group of knights.

He landed on the ground in front of two armored knights and kicked the first knight's helmet, knocking them out instantly. He pulled back his foot for a second before kicking the second one in the solar plexus, knocking their breath out before jumping in the air to kick them in the head and then land on the ground in a sprinting position.

He was about to attack the last group of regular knights before Ruby suddenly appeared in front of them and hit one in the chest with the back end of her scythe. The knight was immediately thrown into a nearby cobblestone wall, knocking them. The second knight brought his sword down on Ruby's back hitting her armor and denting it while throwing her into the ground.

Mercury immediately launched himself at that knight, delivering an upward kick to his back, throwing him into the air. He then ran over to the knight, delivering an axe kick to the knight while he was still in the air, managing to throw him into the ground and knock him out.

The two then regrouped and looked at the four remaining knights looking at them. Mostly the sudden attack surprised them, but they immediately went on the defensive. Ruby and Mercury watched as the heavily armored figure of John created a personal barrier and raised his tower shield while he held his large warhammer with his right hand preparing for the attack. Carol then pulled back the string on her empty bow causing an arrow made of magic to appear before she turned invisible.

"Hey, asshole, don't count us out yet! We just didn't get a surprise attack!" Logan shouted from behind John and Carol. "Diin!" Suddenly, a blast of cold air shot from his mouth hitting John and Carol, causing a layer of frost form over their bodies and gave away Carol's position.

"You know, we also would have benefited from a surprise attack if you didn't announce yourself," Erdin said calmly as he bolted at Carol and used his spear to trip her causing her to fire off her arrow. She then looked at Erdin while she fell and let out a quick whistle which made the arcane arrow change directions and embed itself into his shoulder before disappearing.

"I've always wondered how you were such a good shot," Logan said to Carol as he drew his flaming sword and charged forward at John with his shield in front of himself.

Before the two knights collided, Logan was suddenly stopped by Ruby appearing between them and hooking his shield with her scythe. The reaper then pulled with her weapon, ripping the shield from his arm and throwing it at Carol. She immediately had to duck under John's warhammer that she noticed was glowing.

After the shield bounced off Carol's chest, Mercury jumped over her to catch the shield then throw it at Erdin's chest. He then kicked Carol before she hit the ground causing magic to absorb into his boots. He pivoted on one foot before firing an arcane arrow at Logan, impaling into his knee, forcing him to fall and grasp at his bleeding leg.

"I told you to wait until I knocked him down before you used an arrow to pin him down by his jacket," Ruby told him as she had to jump back to avoid a downward strike from the hammer that cracked the ground.

"What? He was going to shout at you," Mercury said with a shrug before jumping towards her. As she turned to see what happened, Ruby watched as he stopped in front of her, stopping another one of John's downward strikes. "Red, switch!"

"Right!" Ruby shouted as she ran towards Carol, her perception starting to slow down as she watched the archer slowly disappear. She then spun with her scythe, managing to hit nothing before she jumped in the air. Then she looked at the ground and delivered a spinning downward strike that hit an invisible opponent and threw them into the ground.

Mercury watched as Erdin started to run toward Ruby, so he quickly pushed back against the hammer which caused the paladin to stagger back for a moment. He then turned around before stomping on Logan's abdomen, making a large amount of magic to flow into his boot. He redirected the empowered artifact at Erdin and shot his foot outward. Suddenly, a large blue pulse of energy shot from his boot and connected with the spearman, throwing him back into the cobblestone wall and knocking him out.

As Ruby stepped back, she watched as an unconscious Carol turned visible. She then turned around and saw that while Mercury was helping her, John was charging at him preparing to attack. Mercury blinked, and Ruby appeared next to him, hooking the warhammer and redirecting it into the ground.

"Ok, now we just have to deal with the paladin," Mercury said as he turned to the large man. "I hear you can use healing magic only on yourself, so I hope you have enough power left to heal when I'm done with you."

"There's no need," Ironwood said walking forward while raising his hand, signaling for the battle to stop. "You and Miss Rose have clearly won this contest."

"But Commander Ironwood, Paladin Flemming is still standing," Brynn said walking after his superior.

"But his partner had been taken out, and only one full team remained standing. Neither Miss Rose nor Mister Black would have made a decent partner to Flemming, so it's only natural to keep them together," he replied as he walked over and inspected Logan's leg. "It's only a flesh wound that can be taken care of by our healers. You aren't an adventurer, are you?"

"I am, but only for my cover missions," Logan said while he grit his teeth.

"Well then, you should avoid going on guild missions for a while," he told him. "An initial visit from the healers and a few days rest should do you fine." He then turned to the heavily armored knight. "Paladin Flemming, take Sorenson to the healers."

"Right away, Commander Ironwood," a deep voice said from behind the helmet as the man quickly walked by and picked up Logan before leaving the courtyard.

"The others should be fine, when they wake up they'll just headaches I don't want to imagine," Ironwood said with a chuckle as he turned to the two. "Congratulations on passing the challenge."

"Thank you, Commander Ironwood," Ruby said as she and Mercury walked over to the armored man.

"I believe they deserve some praise, wouldn't you say so, Knight Captain Brynn?" Ironwood asked turning to the other man.

"Congrats," Brynn grunted as he crossed his arms in front of himself. "The magic test happens in three days, report to me every day to prepare for your duties." With that, he turned around started walking back to the barracks.

"That was some impressive fighting," Ironwood remarked as he looked over the rest of the courtyard. "Especially you, Mister Black. Your skills as a fighter are remarkable. Which of you came up the plan of attack?"

"Red did," Mercury said with a grin. "Her idea was basically to take out the normal knights, so that we could spend more time to handle the mages."

"I didn't tell you to wound one," Ruby said as she turned to Mercury and gave him a scowl that only caused him to chuckle at how non-threatening it was. "I could have knocked him down and you could've pinned him to the ground with the arrow."

"I told you before, he was about to attack you, and I don't think your regular armor could've handled the flaming sword," Mercury told her as he reached over and poked her forehead.

"Regardless, it was a decent strategy," Ironwood said then looked over to one of the knights knocked out in a pile of snow near the wall. "Bring your fellow knights into the barracks so they don't freeze, then you can have the rest of the day off."

* * *

Mercury grunted as he threw the last knight onto a nearby bed. Once he turned around to look out the door, he noticed Ruby had finished bringing knights into the barracks and bolted out of the building wearing her regular clothes.

As he rolled his neck to finish stretching, he saw a shadowy figure looking at him from the rafters. He immediately leapt upwards, kicking the figure in the chest, throwing them into the ceiling and causing them to land on one of the rafters. He then ran over to the man and picked him up by the neck before pinning him against a supporting beam.

"Stop, stop," the man said as he struggled to break out of Mercury's grip. "I'm with Cinder."

His grip loosened for a second before it tightened even more. "Don't say that name aloud," Mercury told him as he looked around the barracks and saw that all the knights were still unconscious. "It should be safe here." As he set the man down, he noticed the man had short blond hair, brown eyes, and black leather clothing along with a black cloak that seemed to obscure his features when his hood was up. "Who are you?"

"Well, I'm an assassin," he said as he rubbed his neck and coughed. "Adam Lantink, but I am known throughout Vale as the Silent Death."

"Why would an assassin want to be known?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow at him. "What kind of second-rate assassin are you?"

"I am not some second-rate assassin," he confidently said, causing Mercury to scowl a bit in annoyance, "Your boss specifically came to me. She said that I was to kill someone, and that it would help your mission."

"Do you know what my mission is?"

"Well, no, she said that you would understand what needs to be done," he told him as he looked around the room to make sure nobody had woken up. "She even offered to pay me ten times my usual rate for this assassination when I return to Vale."

"Really, and who are you killing?"

Adam looked around again before getting close to Mercury and whispering, "Princess Weiss Schnee."

"Ohh, you're planning on killing the princess, are you sure you can handle such a high-profile target?" Mercury asked him sarcastically. "You wouldn't want your reputation to be hurt if you can't fulfil the contract."

"That is why you are going to help me."

"Of course, it's not like I have enough on my plate already," Mercury muttered as he brought his hand under his chin to think. _'This seems almost contradictory to my actual mission. What was Cinder thinking? Oh, now I understand.'_ He cleared his throat getting the assassin's attention. "I'll help you, but on the off chance you fail this mission, we need to find you a scapegoat so that no suspicion is directed at me."

"I assume you already have someone in mind?"

"Well, of course," Mercury said with a smirk.

* * *

Captain Brynn grumbled as he sorted through papers on his desk. After several hours of reworking the guard schedules, he finally completed it to have Mercury and Ruby free to train with him for the magic test. As he stretched in order to crack his back, he heard the sounds of the floor creaking behind him.

He immediately drew a sword from his back and threw it in the direction of the sound before launching out of his chair towards it. As he neared, he could see a shadowy figure holding the captain's sword and it immediately jumped into the air, flipping over the man. Once the figure landed on the floor behind him, it redirected the sword and placed the flat end on the side of Brynn's neck.

"I would suggest you not try to fight me anymore," Adam said as he pulled his hood back revealing himself to the captain as he turned around. "I'm not here to kill you."

"Then who are you and what do you want?" Brynn asked him as he took his sword back.

"It's simple, I have a proposition for you," he said with a smirk. "To put it simply, I've been hired to take care of some mages, and I've been told that you can help me."

Brynn was silent for a moment before he sheathed his weapon. "I'm listening."

* * *

 **So yeah, not my greatest chapter, but this one is basically setting up: Mercury and Ruby will be present at the magic test, an assassin will try to kill Weiss and Samuel, Brynn is being set up, and stuff is going to go down. I'm basically deciding if I were to just go straight to the test chapter, or maybe just have a brief chapter released partway through the week for Brynn's conversation with Adam.**

 **Also, just in case you thought Brynn had any redeemable qualities, I decided to crush them ahead of time.**

 **Anyway, before someone inevitably comments on this, the reason Mercury and Ruby were able to take on those guards so easily was because they're still technically in the lowest tier of palace guards. There are other guards with other captains in charge of them who are more powerful, and they are generally busy with Jacques and Winter to be guarding Weiss's magic test.**

 **Mercury really does not like Adam, mostly for being a second rate assassin, which the only reason I decided to add that snippet of personality was because in the show Mercury was raised to be an assassin.**

 **So, finally, I've been messing around with this idea for a while, so I'm just going to ask your guys' opinions.**

 **Should I write another story?**

 **I would definitely not be stopping this one, and if anything the other one would be a once a month updated story so it doesn't hamper The Princess and the Rose. It would basically be a cyberpunk style story where cybernetic prosthetics are commonplace and the main girls have them, except Weiss, and if the prosthetics are hacked, the hackers can have control over the people because of a link to the brain... I realized I just basically wrote down the plot to one of the Deus Ex games, but it's so far just an idea.**

 **Thoughts?**

 **Anyway, have a happy new year, see you in the next one,**

 **-J. Van A**


	73. Some Conversations and then the Test

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A and this is the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. You know, I don't even understand why I keep doing the same into. It's always the same so you guys always know what it's gonna be.**

 **So, as I'm sure most of you have noticed by now, this chapter is being posed earlier than usual. Well, the reason behind that is because partway through this I said to myself, 'You know what, I really don't need to prolong the days before the test any further, so I might as well just get to the test and do that for the next chapter.' Also, I've sort of been caught in a bit of a rut which is pretty evident in the quality of the last few chapters. I know some people liked them and probably thought they were fine, and some people saw that they're not really as good as my earlier chapters, or because of this rut I'm always second guessing my work.**

 **Reviews:**

 **k wolf omega: Yeah, none of that will happen until the next chapter.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: He's more of a dick than a jerk, and a sort of racist one at that. I'll write a few chapters on the cyberpunk story and see if it goes anywhere.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"That was rather easy," Adam said as he leaned against Brynn's desk. "I honestly thought that I would have to make an effort to convince you to help me assassinate mages."

"Mages are dangerous, their connection to the Fade makes them easily susceptible to demonic possession, and I've seen how dangerous that can be," he said gesturing towards the long scar across his face. "Combat mages like Flemming or Sorenson are less likely to become possessed due to the fact that their connection to the Fade is significantly weak. As much as I don't like to condone murder, the less possible abominations around, the better. Many people here in the capital that share my sympathies on this matter and would not mind mages disappearing."

"Well… that's a decent motive, but you don't even know who my targets are," he said causing the man to raise an eyebrow. "Princess Weiss Schnee and Court Wizard Samuel. Rumors have spread around that the princess was a mage and an interested party has paid me to take care of her and the court wizard."

"This… is a predicament," Brynn said as he turned away from the assassin and gripped the hilt of his sword.

"What's wrong?" Adam asked as he cautiously reached to his belt and drew his glowing green dagger.

"It is my duty to protect the royal family and members of the castle…" he paused for a moment then let go of his sword causing the assassin to sheathe his weapon before the knight turned back around, "but an assassination is an unforeseen accident, and with my position, I would not be suspected of working with an assassin."

"So, are you with me?"

"I am, but if you are going to be effective at getting rid of the potentially dangerous mages, there are some additional targets you will need to kill, some of them non-magic users," Brynn told him as he walked over to the assassin.

"My contract is for the princess and court wizard, nobody else."

Brynn suddenly reached up and picked the assassin up by his collar. "There is no way you can pull your contract off without my help, and I assume that your contract is worth a lot of gold. So, you're going to do what I say, or I might as well kill you here." For a brief moment, Adam felt fear as he looked at the older man's glare.

"Alright, alright, but I take care of my contract first, those are my conditions," he said as he tried to break out of Adam's grip only to have the man set him on the ground and release him.

"Fine, but two of the people who need to die will also be present at the magic test, and if things don't go over well, you may have to kill them first," Brynn said with a smile as he fixed his collar. "For the next few days, come to me at night and we will figure out your next moves."

* * *

Ruby looked at the small velvet bag in her hands as she sat on Weiss's bed while the princess was sitting at her desk writing on several different pieces of scattered paper. She opened the bag and saw the gold rings inside bringing a blush to her face before she looked up to her girlfriend. The reaper was about to say something, but then she remembered what Weiss was preparing for and closed the bag before slipping it into her side pouch. Closing the bag on her belt, she took it off and placed it on the small nightstand next to the bed before her hand moved up to rub the large circular scar on the inside of her forearm.

She let out a sigh as she laid down on the bed, which caught the princess's attention. "Are you bored?" Weiss asked as she turned around to look at her.

"No… it's not that, I'm… tired," Ruby lied as she rolled on the bed to face away from Weiss to hide her blush. "I'm still a bit sore from the fight earlier today. I didn't wear my chainmail and was reminded just how much impact it usually absorbs in a fight."

"Well, I guess you will just have to try harder to not get hit," Weiss said as she walked over to the bed and laid down before draping an arm over Ruby and pulled her into a hug. "Also, I remember you were a pretty good fighter before you got that armor."

"Weiss, I still have the scars on my chest from a fight with a beowolf from the second day we met," she said as she rolled over to look her in the eyes, "you've seen them, several times actually."

"Well, to be fair, when do I have the opportunity to see them, I'm typically distracted by other things," she said with a smirk which caused Ruby to blush even more than before.

"Good night, Weiss," Ruby said as she rolled over to face away from Weiss.

"Oh, come on, you flirt with me all the time and I get embarrassed, but I flirt with you once and you turn away from me."

"Well, that's because you're cute when you blush, I just get redder," she said as she turned to look at her, showing her the blush on her face.

"You're cute too," Weiss said as she pulled herself over to the crimsonette and rested her forehead against Ruby's own.

"I know I'm cute, which is why you need all the help you can get," Ruby said with a cheeky grin that caused Weiss to scoff in offense as she scowled at the taller girl. They looked at each other for a brief moment before both girls suddenly started laughing.

"You don't mean that, though, right?" Weiss asked her between laughs. Ruby didn't say anything, she simply leaned up, kissed Weiss on the forehead and smiled at her before rolling over on the bed. "Ruby!"

* * *

Over the next several days, everything seemed normal. Ruby and Mercury attended training with Captain Brynn and each noticed the unusual smile brought on his face every once in a while when he thought they weren't looking. Weiss herself studied for the first day until she hit a wall and decided to instead build her magical power over the remaining time by practicing her summoning magic.

It was only on the evening on the last day that everything came together. As the two knights and the captain entered the mage tower, they immediately noticed as the usual large armchair was turned around and the court wizard was sitting on it having a large cloak draped over himself to obscure his features except for two glowing gloved hands. Then they noticed Weiss drawing a large intricate circle in the middle of the room that's images seemed to move as soon as the chalk left the floor. Once the three non-magic users came closer, Ruby looked down and noticed that a larger portion of the circle had the image of a snowflake over smaller images of swords that seemed to spin clockwise.

"Thank you for coming," Samuel said as his hood turned to the side just as the large arctic wolf walked over to his side. He placed his hand on the canine's head causing it to glow blue for a moment before turning into light and was absorbed into his body.

"It is our duty," Brynn said as he walked over to the side of the room, closing a door that lead to a stairway upstairs and leaned against it. "Rose and Black will be standing guard for most of this test."

"Right, then both Miss Schnee and I will be relying on you two to keep us safe," Samuel said turning to them. "During this test, both Miss Schnee and I will be entering the Fade and will be unresponsive to any outside forces, which makes us vulnerable. So, while Miss Schnee is in a spirit's domain, I will be in a separate domain channeling my own magic to keep her in the Fade."

"And should I become possessed by a demon, you all would have to kill me," Weiss said with a somber tone causing everyone to look at her as she finished the magic circle. "I know what the risks to this test are, and this isn't my first time dealing with demonic possession." She looked over to Ruby causing the younger girl to look at her with a worried look.

"We both know that won't happen," Ruby told her catching the others' attention. "You're too strong willed to be possessed."

"It doesn't matter how strong willed she is, any mage is susceptible to demonic possession," Brynn said from his corner. "This is why these tests have guards present. If the mage becomes an abomination, we have to stop it before it has a chance to attack anyone outside this tower."

"Now, we should proceed with this test," Samuel said as he reached to the table by his side and picked up two somewhat large potions filled with glowing green liquid. After handing one to Weiss, he opened the other and drank it. Moments later he became motionless as a blue mist started rolling off his body.

Before Weiss could drink the potion, Ruby ran forward and quickly gave her a hug. "Good luck, Weiss. Stay safe."

"Thank you, hopefully I won't need it," Weiss said as she pulled back from the hug and opened the potion.

Before she drank the potion, she looked over to Ruby and saw her mouth the words, 'I love you.' With a smile, she drank the potion and kneeled in the middle of the circle causing it to glow as the images started to spin. As her eyes closed, everyone watched as a white mist started rolling off her body.

* * *

 **So yeah, I'm pretty sure everyone could tell at what point I said, 'Screw it, it's now test day!' I mean, I could've milked maybe two or three more intermediary chapters from my brain, but one of the things I'm working on is making the plot progress faster, so I sort of did the same thing that I did long ago with the journey to Redbarrow.**

 **Anyway, Brynn hesitated, but then he immediately became 'Dickhead of the Arc' winning the contest and getting his sash and tiara before going on a rant about how all mages are evil beings that should die.**

 **I felt like doing some Whiterose fluff before the arc's conclusion. I haven't really done much with it lately, so why not a cute teasing scene after Ruby get's too shy to propose to Weiss because she wants her to focus on her test?**

 **Then finally, the test. I think I made Samuel the only character that has physically appeared in multiple chapters, but no reliable descriptions of his features are known. Maybe he's just invisible all the time and the gloves are so people know where he is?**

 **Anyway, the next chapter is going to be longer, which means that the time I would've worked this weekend on this chapter is going towarda the next one. Now I just need to summon tired Van for the next chapter because things are about to go down.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	74. The Test

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A, and this is the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. This chapter took longer to write than I had hoped, but then again, I started school last week, so I've been a little busy. Though, on the bright side, I spent only a little less than $300 on textbooks this semester. Hooray for the American college! Where your education costs you an arm and a leg, and you learn next to nothing!**

 **Anyway, you guys excited for a long chapter? I had to make this one longer than I usually do, but hey, I cut out a lot of what I was going to originally have.**

 **Without further ado (apparently, the proper form is not adieu, you learn something new everyday, mostly from Google),**

 **Reviews:**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Yep, it all comes down to this.**

 **Yakosh: I've done stereotypical villains, and I don't like them. Remember Balo Cane, or was it Kane, from the circus arc? I hated his character because I felt like a douche writing his lines.**

 **k wolf omega: Well... you'll see.**

 **iamking: The cyberpunk writing is going about as slowly as I thought it was going to be, and I did not think to give Weiss a bionic eye. Good thing I haven't written her yet.**

 **Colin: It's always fun to see a reviewer go through the story while leaving periodic reviews as they go along. There is always a trend of reviews being posted around chapters 34-36, but I mean, *cough* I did try to kill Ruby *cough*.**

 **steelbone532: Yes! I was waiting for someone to mention that! I couldn't blatantly say they had intercourse, but I could nudge people towards the idea. Ruby and Weiss have been dating for over a year, so their relationship was bound to become physical.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Ruby looked concerned as she reached over with one hand and started to squeeze her forearm while she watched over Weiss. The princess was kneeling in the middle of the magic circle while mist was rising off herself and remained motionless despite any loud sounds of books falling to the ground. Mercury was getting increasingly bored as he wandered around the room, picking up books and reading them for brief moments before tossing it to the side. Knight Captain Brynn was still leaning against the stairway door that led to the roof while watching over the four other occupants of the room.

"I'm sorry this is so boring, Mister Black," Brynn growled, getting his attention causing the man to look up from his book, "but we do have a duty to guard these two."

"Yeah, but we all know nothing is going to happen," Mercury said then looked back to his book, but not before noticing the man's side of his mouth curl slightly upwards in a smirk. "This test is as secret as it can be, with nobody outside the walls knowing that this is happening, and the only knowledge of the princess being a mage are just rumors. Then again, people tend not to trust rumors since one is still going around that Princess Weiss was assassinated over a year ago, despite the fact she was present at the spring festival's parade."

"Actually, I agree with the captain," Ruby interjected, surprising the kickboxer. "The last time she was in the Fade like this, she and my sister got hurt from the creatures in there."

"What are you talking about?" Brynn asked causing Ruby to turn around and face him.

"While we were travelling through Vale… someone in our group was possessed by a fear demon. Since Weiss and my sister were mages, they went deep into that demon's domain and killed it," she explained while avoiding eye contact. "Once the demon was killed, the possessed person was freed."

"That's a load of bull," he said as he turned around and looked out the nearby window. "You can never trust magic when it comes to demonic possession. It doesn't matter who it is, if someone becomes possessed by a demon, you cut off their head before they can do any damage and hope they weren't a mage."

"They weren't going to kill- we weren't going to kill them," Ruby told him as she squeezed her arm tighter while turning around to look at the princess. She could only imagine what Weiss was going though in the Fade. What she did not see was that Weiss's right leg began to bleed along the side.

* * *

Weiss opened her eyes and she immediately saw the structure of the library in front of her. It seemed different from the last time she had been here. It seemed much darker than before, with what appeared to be ash floating through the air and the bookshelves around the area were all thrown to the ground with the books scattered everywhere. The building itself seemed to be more broken than it had been before, with there being many more holes in the walls and ceiling. As she looked through one of the many holes, she could see the white light surrounding the floating library had partially turned green, with both colors mixing together into a sort of vortex below them.

"This doesn't look good," she said as she pulled the magic hilt from her belt and held it in her left hand. In the distance, she could hear the slight sounds of someone whimpering. "Hello, is someone there?" After waiting for a brief moment of time for an answer and not getting one, she continued forward, keeping the hilt in front of her.

Walking down the hallway towards the main building, she could see the floor had broken up into several different floating islands that seemed to bounce in between each other. Watching the islands for a bit, she timed it for just the right moment before jumping onto the next island as it collided with the ledge near her. Then she began hopping from island to island, managing to make it to the other side of the gap.

The whimpering she had heard earlier was louder now. Walking towards the source of the noise, Weiss saw a faint light underneath a nearby collapsed bookcase. "Is someone there?" she asked as she approached the light. "Hello?"

"That voice…" it said as Weiss could hear the sounds of someone struggling underneath the bookcase. She cautiously raised her hilt in front of herself and created a rapier blade with magic. After several moments, she watched as a glowing blue humanoid figure crawled out from the bookshelf and looked at her. "Weiss? What are you doing here?"

"Curiosity?" Weiss asked as she dissipated the magic blade and tried to help the spirit to its feet only to watch as it floated off the ground. "What happened here?"

"Knowledge… s-she's not herself," Curiosity sobbed as it floated over to Weiss. "Just a few days ago, the library started to shake as the sky changed. Then the fires broke out… it took almost all of us to put them out, but we lost nearly a whole section. Finally, the corruption began."

"Corruption? What do you mean?" Weiss asked as she looked around while creating another blade with her hilt.

"It started at the main tower, and spread out into the rest of the structure," it explained as pointing out of one of the large holes in the ceiling. Weiss looked through the hole and saw that where used to be a grand structure, now stood a spire made of black stone that she recognized from the fear demon's domain. "Any spirit that enters that area becomes corrupted shortly after, turning into demons. Then the spirits ran rampant through the library, destroying anything they could find. There are only a few spirits remaining in the library, and I only managed to survive by hiding under that bookcase."

"Is the spirit of knowledge in charge of this domain already a demon?"

"I-I don't know," Curiosity said running its hands over its head while turning around. "It's possible, yes, but Knowledge is a powerful spirit."

"And the more powerful the spirit, the longer it takes for corruption to seep in," Weiss concluded while looking around. "The library is pretty damaged, but only that spire has changed into black rock, so there's a chance the change isn't irreversible."

"What are you planning on doing?"

"Saving Knowledge," she said as she looked down the hall towards the main building. "Is there somewhere you can hide while I head into the main building?"

"The spot I was hiding in earlier might still work," it said looking over to the bookshelf, only to watch it break in half and fall to the floor, "or not." It then looked down the hall where the building was mostly intact. "I could find the others. I'm sure they went to where the building mostly is the same."

"Ok, be careful," she said watching the spirit float over the gap. "Try to stay hidden."

As she watched Curiosity disappear down the hall, Weiss turned around and started making her way to the main building. Part way down the hall, she began to notice that in between the lines of the floor tiles, black stone seemed to be rising through the cracks. Then the floors and walls slowly turned into black stone, to the point that she had to remind herself that she's in a library and not in a cave.

She then turned a corner and entered a large room that appeared to be a sort of reading room filled with chairs and tables that had already turned to stone. In front of her, she could see three demons roaming around the large room that seemed to not notice her yet. Before they could look at her, she quickly ran over to one of the stone chairs and hid behind it, only looking over the stone to see what the demons looked like after creating a magical barrier around herself.

The first demon was a tall, slender green creature that had a vertical mouth that stretched from halfway over its face, down its neck and to its collarbone. She then noticed that it had several spikes protruding from its body and down its slender arm to its claws. The final feature she took notice of was the many beady black eyes around its head.

The other two demons seemed to be just as tall and slender as the green creature, except that its skin was pale, almost flesh-like. While it was probably the same height as the green one standing up, the two demons were bent backwards to the point their heads and arms were hanging between their legs as they used their claw-like hands to keep their balance.

Taking a deep breath, Weiss stood up and aimed her sword at one of the fleshy demons before firing a large icicle at one of the fleshy demons, striking it in its bent-over back and pinning it to the wall, causing it to scream and alert the other two demons. She then aimed her right hand at the ground before flicking it upwards causing ice to form under her feet and create an angled pillar, launching herself into the air at them.

As she reached the apex of her flight, she fired off an ice spear at the green demon, only to have it catch the ice. Once she landed on the ground, she looked at the green demon watching it eat the ice spear before it opened its large mouth and let out a scream, causing many small icicles to fly out of its mouth at her. She barely had enough time to dodge, causing several of the icicles to crash into her arm and break apart as they collided with her barrier.

She then dived behind another stone chair, only to hear the other fleshy demon land on the other side and break off the back of the chair, forcing her to dive to the ground to avoid being crushed. The fleshy demon then jumped off the chair, landing next to her before clawing at her back. With Weiss laying on the ground, she started to crawl away from the demon while it clawed at her. She suddenly felt her barrier break from the demon attacking it, and then she felt the demon's claw stab into the side of her right leg before dragging it down, almost down to her ankle.

In a small act of desperation, she created another barrier around herself before focusing more magic into the barrier, causing it to expand into a large bubble. As she picked herself up, she winced in pain from the wound and looked up to see the fleshy demon scratching at the barrier while the green demon climbed over the nearby stone furniture before biting down on the large barrier.

"What can I do?" Weiss asked herself as she watched the two demons attacking her barrier. She winced again from the wound, so she reached down and focused healing magic into it causing the wound to close.

Looking at the barrier, she could see that the demons began leaving scratches on the bubble, so it was only a matter of time before it broke. She then aimed her rapier at one of the demons before thrusting it forward only to have the magic blade bounce off from the inside.

Thinking quickly, she stabbed the magic blade into the ground and started focusing magic into the weapon. Then she dissipated the barrier causing both demons to stumble forward before she suddenly let out a blast of magic shooting large icicles from the floor, impaling the two demons to the wall.

Breathing heavily, she walked over the series of stone furniture towards the pinned demon that was still screaming. With a loud grunt, she brought the magic blade onto the demon's head, impaling it, and causing it to stop screaming. She then dissipated the blade before walking through the nearby doorway and up the black stone staircase.

* * *

Mercury was leaning against a nearby bookshelf before he heard the distinct sounds of a window latch unlocking. He turned his head slightly in time to watch Adam slip in and climb a bookshelf before closing the window so a breeze wouldn't blow in. He then smirked before walking over to Ruby.

"Hey, Red, you never did tell me how you got this weird crossbow," he said as he reached over to her back and grabbed the crossbow to look at it.

"Hey, give that back!" Ruby nearly shouted at him, trying to reach for the weapon only to have him raise it slightly higher. "That was a gift from Fort Beacon!"

"Oh, Fort Beacon?" he asked with fake interest as he turned the weapon towards Adam. "And who gave it to you? A random knight or some of the higher ups?"

"It was Ozpin, now give it back!" she said jumping to grab the weapon, each time having it be just out of reach.

"Would you two please stop acting like children!" Brynn shouted at them just as Mercury pulled the trigger, causing the bolt to launch from the weapon and embed itself into the wall next to Adam. "Mister Black, that's enough!"

"Alright, fine," he said with a shrug lowering the weapon while watching Ruby turn to where the arrow flew.

Her eyes were then suddenly drawn to the shadowy figure on the large bookshelf that looked directly at her. "Assassin!" Ruby suddenly shouted as she drew her scythe and launched herself at him. Before the assassin had anytime to react, she hit him in the chest with the backside of her scythe's haft, throwing him into the wall and onto the ground in front of Weiss. "Mercury!"

"On it!" he responded, running up to Adam as the assassin drew his glowing green knife. "Enchanted knife! Be careful!" Mercury then leaned back in order to dodge an attack with the weapon before punching forward and knocking the weapon hand back. He then spun around and kicked Adam's hand causing the enchanted dagger to fly from his hand. "Captain, do you want to help?"

"You're handling this just fine," Brynn told him nonchalantly without looking up from his position next to the door. "You disarmed him, just be careful of more knives."

"Oh, you're a lot of help," he said as he kicked Adam in the chest, throwing him into the cobblestone wall.

Before Ruby could reach the assassin, Mercury bolted forward and punched him in the face. He then grabbed Adam's hand before spinning him around to grab his other hand, then pushed the assassin to the ground. He placed his knee onto the man's back before pressing his right boot on his neck, effectively immobilizing him.

"N-now then, get rid of him," Brynn told him with a slight worried stutter.

"No," Mercury said as he looked over to Brynn, "have you never interrogated someone? An assassin tries to kill the princess and you suggest we simply kill them?" He then turned to the assassin as Ruby walked over. "Hey, Red, you want to do the honors?"

"Who do you work for?" Ruby asked Adam, kneeling next to him. "Who told you of Weiss's test, and how did you get in the castle?"

"Silly girl, you don't have any idea what forces are at work here," Adam said spitting in her face. "A lot of people would prefer Princess Schnee's head on a pike, and my employer seemed very adamant it happen tonight when the princess is most vulnerable."

Mercury then pressed his face harder into the floor with his boot. "I believe that wasn't the answer we were looking for, now was it?" he asked and pushed harder causing the assassin to groan in pain. "Now, who do you work for?"

Adam then let out a low laugh as he looked up at both Ruby and Mercury. "Well, I'm dead either way. There's no point in keeping it a secret, especially since he didn't pay me to. Isn't that right, Captain Brynn?" he asked looking up to the older man, causing a panicked look to form on his face.

"Captain?" Ruby asked, standing up to face him. "You had something to do with this?"

Before Brynn could say anything, Adam interrupted. "Oh yeah, he was very adamant about killing the princess," he said with a small laugh. "Something about one less abomination in the world, the better. He provided me with everything I needed." Ruby slowly started to walk towards the captain while raising her scythe in front of herself. "Guard schedules, a plan to get into castle grounds, and he even had the eastern wall's guards patrol on the ground, just so I could slip past."

"This is- this is a trick," Brynn stuttered, taking several steps back and placing his hand the door handle. "Rose, I command you to stop!"

"Sorry captain, but I don't listen to traitors," Ruby growled at the captain, "especially traitors who try to kill my friends." Brynn didn't say anything as he quickly threw open the door and ran up the stairs, slamming the door behind himself. "Mercury, can you handle the assassin?"

"He's not going anywhere," he assured her before twisting Adam's arm.

"Thank you, I'll be back shortly," she said then started running up the stairs.

"Well, with that bit of theatre over, can you let me go?" Adam asked while he struggled against Mercury's grip.

"I'll have to say no," Mercury told him as he pressed against the man harder.

"We had a deal, man," Adam nearly shouted at him. "You help me and if I get caught, you help me escape. That was the deal!"

"Sure, if you took me at my word, but that wasn't part of the plan," he told him then leaned in, making sure the stairway door was closed before continuing. "My whole mission here is to infiltrate the castle and earn the royal family's trust, and keeping tabs on Red was a little side mission. Now how do you think I would've earned any trust in the royal family if I let the princess die on my watch?"

"You son of a bitch! This was a trap the entire time!"

"A good assassin never deals in full pay on a contract completion, always go either all up front or half before, then after. Though, why am I lecturing you? You're never going to live to use my words of wisdom," he said with a smirk before pressing down with his foot and twisting, hearing a snap as Adam's neck broke. He then scoffed as he let go of the dead man before standing up. "Idiot."

* * *

Weiss cautiously walked up the spiral staircase, holding her hilt in front of herself, but not generating a blade to conserve magic. She made her way up the stairs easily enough without confrontation, but the main problem she faced was the stairs became slick with running water halfway up. Making her way to the top of the stairs, she entered a large room that on the other side stood a giant stone door.

She made her way down to the door and pushed it open to see a large circular room. She had guessed it at one time was a grand room filled with books, but now it was completely made out of stone with strange glowing green water flowing down the sides. On the other side of the room, she could see a circular stone platform in front of a large triangular window that overlooked the swirling sky.

On the stone platform, Weiss could see a large figure hunched next to the window, but it wasn't humanoid. The figure seemed to be a large bird that she couldn't quite make the features out to. On one side of the bird, it had a long brown and white wing and a head that seemed a bit large with a beak that was crookedly pointing forward. The other side of the bird had a long black wing that seemed slender and crooked as if it being forcefully changed while shedding white and brown feathers with each move. Once it turned to face her, she could see that half of its face seemed to be that of a barn owl and the other looking like a raven.

"Who dares enter my domain?" the bird asked as it started walking towards Weiss as she entered the room. "A human?"

"Are you the Spirit of Knowledge?" Weiss asked as she passed by a small spire of black stone. "Or are you a Demon of Ignorance?"

"Why should it matter?" the creature asked as it hung its head. "Demon, spirit, none of it matters. I used to be a Spirit of Knowledge. I helped many great mages throughout history, every decade or so, a new master, a new mind to meld. Then the mortals stopped coming to me for guidance. For nearly a century I sat silent with no purpose." It then let out a sigh as the feathers on its face slowly became blacker. "It seems that mortals no longer care for knowledge."

"You're wrong," Weiss said as she moved within a meter of the stone circle. "I've met many people who strive for knowledge, and I'm no exception. The first time I came here was practice for my test, drinking a potion to take me to a part of the Fade I was compatible with."

"A mistake," the creature said, its voice sounding more distorted and sinister. "Nothing more than a mistake."

"You only say that because you believe you've lost your purpose," she said taking a step onto the stone platform. "I know that there is still some part of you that remains a spirit. If you want, I could help you find your purpose once again."

As she walked towards the spirit, she stretched out her hand to the creature. It's barn owl wing started to shrink, and the feathers retracted, turning into what appeared to be a human hand. She looked up and saw the barn owl side of the creature was slowly turning into a humanoid form. Suddenly, the black wing shot forward and struck Weiss in the chest, throwing her back into a stone spire, breaking through it.

"Lies!" it shouted in a demonic voice as the humanoid arm tried to hold down the wing to no avail. "You shall die for trespassing here, mortal!"

"I will not fight you," Weiss said picking herself up.

"Then you shall die!" it shouted again then launched itself at her with its bird leg.

"No!" the humanoid half shouted then reached over and pulled the black wing down causing the creature to crash into the ground. "Human! Give me the spirit hilt!"

"Here!" she shouted as she tossed the magic towards the creature only to have the black wing swat it onto the stone platform and against the window. She tried to run towards the window only to have the demon half hit her with the wing and throw her back into the stone wall.

The demon side looked at her and scowled before launching itself at her, dragging the humanoid half with it, slamming that side into the stone wall. Weiss took her chance and bolted towards the window. As the creature turned to her, she flicked her hand upward causing a small pillar of ice to shoot upward and trap the black wing.

As she reached the spirit hilt, she threw it at the spirit half. Then she watched as the humanoid portion created a large magic dagger with the weapon before stabbing its demon side causing a large plume of black smoke to rise from itself. After a few moments, Weiss could see the demonic side was starting to shrink. With a low demonic roar, the creature launched itself at Weiss before slamming both of them through the window.

* * *

"Brynn!" Ruby shouted, stepping onto the tower's rooftop, seeing the captain standing next to the edge. "Why did you do it, Brynn?"

"It was a setup, this whole damn fucking time!" he shouted without turning to her. "I have a duty to the crown."

"Then why didn't you explain yourself?" she asked him as she slowly started walking towards the man. "If you did nothing wrong, then there is no problem. We would believe you over an assassin, unless you actually did help him."

"It was a temporary lapse in judgement," he said causing Ruby to stop. "I have seen my fair share of battles, Miss Rose. The hardest ones were against abominations. That's how I got this scar." He pointed to the one stretching across his face. "It was but a child, so I believed I could help it, but I was naive. It slaughtered my whole squadron before coming after me. I barely had a chance against it, but once it charged me, I raised my sword, plunging it into the abomination's chest, killing it."

"That doesn't excuse what you did."

"But _you_ know what its like," he said turning around to look her in the eyes. "When your friend was possessed, you saw the raw power the creature had and just how dangerous it was."

"Actually, I don't," she said, looking up at the confused man. " _I_ was the one possessed by a fear demon. It was a moment of weakness, but I didn't kill anyone."

"How are you here then?"

"We had the Court Mage of Fort Beacon with us, she saved me and everyone else," she told him then paused for a moment. "For all you say about magic being evil, it is probably the most effective way to deal with possession."

"Whatever you say Miss Rose," he said in a defeated tone, turning around and leaned against the wall.

"Captain Brynn, I'll have to bring you in," she said taking a step towards him.

"If you bring me in, Jacques will kill me," he said as his hand reached towards his sword slightly. "I can't be taken in."

"You don't know for sure, there's a chance you can come out of this alive."

"A chance to come out alive," he scoffed as he drew his sword, striking upwards at her head. "That is a chance I can't take."

"Gah!" Ruby cried bringing a gloved hand up to the right side of her face, feeling blood pour out of the wound.

"Do you really think the king will let me off with an attempt on his daughter's life?" he asked her then slashed at her again, only to have her bolt off to the side. "This is treason, and in Atlas, traitors die! I'm not dying on anyone's terms, but my own!"

She brought her hand back down to grasp the haft of Crescent Rose and opened her right eye to glare at him, ignoring the blood dripping into it and onto the ground. Ruby then bolted forward, slamming the back side of the scythe's haft into his shield and throwing him back a couple of feet. Then he countered by thrusting his weapon into her shoulder, piercing the Atlesian steel and stabbing the flesh underneath, forcing her to cry out in pain and close her right eye as her vision blurred while turning red.

Ruby tried to swing her weapon at him, but Brynn slammed his shield into the weapon, throwing it back before he tried to strike at her again. As he swung his sword, his footing suddenly slipped on a patch of ice, causing the man to fall backwards on the low wall. She then watched as the man fell off the roof, so she quickly tried to run up and catch him, dropping her scythe in the process.

As she got to the wall, she looked down and saw the captain holding onto a protruding brick with one hand. "Take my hand," Ruby said reaching out with her left hand for him to grab. "Come on."

"You know, Rose, with all the shit I gave you over the past year, there's one thing I admired about you: your compassion. No matter the odds, you always try to be peaceful and save everyone. It's the most defining thing about you," he told her, reaching over to his belt and drew a knife. "It's also your biggest flaw." With one swift movement, he stabbed the knife into her hand before letting go of the brick. She could only watch as the man crashed into the ground, the red of his blood contrasting with the white of the snow.

* * *

Weiss was falling. She didn't know how far she had fallen, but she had long passed the structure, falling deeper and deeper into the vortex. Closing her eyes, she let out a sigh as she tried waking herself up, but suddenly, she felt large talons grasp around her waist and jerk her upwards. Once she turned to see what it was, she could see the large figure of a barn owl that's black feathers flew into the vortex with each flap of its powerful wings.

The two then started to fly back to the library, and Weiss could see that as the spirit returned to its normal self, the library's black stone structure slowly subsiding into the building she remembered. It was only after several minutes the two returned to the room with the large window.

Instead of black stone everywhere, Weiss could see the room had a marble floor, along with several colorful rugs adorning the floor. In the middle of the room, she could see a large circular table filled with books and surrounded by lavish loveseats, each with a book or two on them. On each side of the room, she also noticed there were two fountains that appeared to be waterfalls that flowed into small pools of water.

"I must thank you, human," Knowledge said removing the magic blade from its side using its beak and dropping it into Weiss's hand. "You helped save me from myself."

"You're welcome, and you can call me Weiss, Weiss Schnee," she said securing the hilt to her side.

"Then you have my thanks, Weiss Schnee," it said beginning to morph into a humanoid form. She then watched as it turned into a tall black-eyed woman wearing brown and white robes, and her hair was pure white before turning brown at the tips. "Now, I believe you came here in order to form a bond with me."

"Would you be willing?" she asked, walking forward and outstretched her hand.

"Yes, I will, but this process of forming a bond requires something more than a handshake," Knowledge said as she reached her hand forward, it turning into mist before she pressed it against Weiss's chest. "This might hurt." Weiss then let out a pained groan as she felt her body heat up as the spirit's hand passed through her chest and pulses of light entered her body. "You can come to me whenever you enter the Fade by simply thinking of the library, but I'm afraid you can't summon me, as I am not a fighter." After a short while of magic pulsing into her chest, the spirit pulled its hand out and looked at her. "Now then, wake up."

* * *

As Weiss opened her eyes, she came to the sight of Mercury standing over a dead body and a bloodied Ruby cringing while removing a knife from her hand. She then watched as Ruby tried to close her fist, only to have her middle and ring fingers remain outstretched. Then she looked around the room and didn't see Captain Brynn standing anywhere.

"What… what happened?" Weiss asked as she tried to stand up, only to stumble. Before she could fall to the ground, Ruby ran over and grabbed her with her good hand before helping her to her feet. "Ruby, what happened to you?"

"It's… a long story," she replied as walked Weiss over to a chair and sat her down.

* * *

 **So yeah, Weiss formed a bond with a spirit after saving it from becoming a demon, Mercury killed Adam (and I realized the day after I posted his first chapter that I shouldn't have named him Adam), and Ruby fought Brynn before he killed himself.**

 **Mercury also revealed his mission, and while it's not a grandiose assassination plot, it makes more sense.**

 **So where do we go from here? Well, we'll find out in the next chapter, which will be the last Whiterose chapter for a bit while I do Bumbleby. Oh yeah, they get a cool plot arc, especially some character development with Yang.**

 **Anyway, this chapter probably would've been posted earlier, but I just found out today that one of my favorite movies came back to Netflix. If you guys actually read the ANs, then you would've remembered when I talked about Stardust. That movie, at least to me, is an instant classic. It's like the Princess Bride, but funnier and while it doesn't have the old time charm to it, it seems better. Though, that's just my opinion. I can't really describe it properly, but if you guys have Netflix, you should add Stardust to your list, you won't regret it.**

 **So, it is 1:35 in the morning, and I need to sleep.**

 **(Update Van: So, after a helpful review, I decided to come back in and edit the chapter. Not much has changed, except for maybe the Weiss falling scene and less use of 'as'. Hopefully it fixed some of the problems, but if you guys spot any, feel free to point them out.)**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	75. The Promotion

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. I think I'm going to start doing short ANs for the beginning of the chapter. So instead of rambling on I'll just do reviews and get to the story.**

 **Reviews:**

 **steelbone532: Yeah, I should've named him something like Carl or anything besides Adam, though Mega Death Killer would've hit it a bit too on the nose.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Yeah, I've noticed that I've been doing a lot of stuff close to the chest so it would be a surprise, which can be its downfall, and one of those things came up in this chapter, so now it feels kind of rushed.**

 **Yakosh: Tired Van did have a lot to do with the last chapter, and then Tired Van devolved into Loopy Van later which caused a bit of the problems with the sentences. I'm guessing you were commenting about the constant use of the word 'as.' I went back and fixed that, along with some other bits, but thanks for pointing that out, otherwise the chapter would've remained the same. Also, to each their own, I just really like Stardust.**

 **k wolf omega: I will never write a smut fic, but I'm not saying I haven't read a couple. I still have trouble writing romance, so I wouldn't dare try writing smut. You should never trust Mercury, or any assassin to be honest. I was definitely not in the right state of mind to write another possession arc where the one possessed is a mage, since it is disastrous.**

 **Xyander64: I've noticed that people do comment that they like my version of Jaune, and I can see why. In most fics I've read, Jaune is always OP or a bumbling idiot who is always the butt of the joke, so I made a Jaune as close to the one from the show while making some jokes. Really? You thought the Ruby possession was wonderful? I still get flashbacks to writing that and think I should've introduced her nightmares earlier. Also, trust me, I know the siege arc was too long. I think if you read the ANs during the second half of the arc you can tell I was pretty much done with it at that point. Always trust that the writer is going to be hardest on their own story, more than any reviewer.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Hello, mother," Weiss said, sitting on a bench facing a statue of the woman near the large mausoleum behind the castle in the family graveyard. She looked around the area, making sure she was alone. Letting out a long sigh, she tilted her head up to look at the woman's face. "I passed my magic test yesterday and formed a bond with a powerful Spirit of Knowledge. Then there was the assassination attempt…" Her voice started to quiver as she reached over and held her hand before squeezing it tightly. "I was fine, but Ruby was hurt pretty bad. She often tries to put on a brave face and ignore pain, but when she thinks I'm not looking, she'll rub her old scars, remembering the battles she gained them from." She paused then looked off to the side. "I know she misses her home, even though she'll never admit it. It's been over a year since she left, and she hasn't seen Yang since Fort Mantle. She stays here for me and does everything she can to make me happy, and I'm doing everything I can to return her kindness, but I'm trapped here in the castle. I tried suggesting to father that I travel, but he immediately disapproved of that idea, and yet he's letting Winter travel across Atlas with her royal guard." She let out another sigh. "Something is bothering Ruby, and I know she wants to tell me it, but I know I can't force her." Out of the corner of her eye, Weiss saw Whitely waiting at the gates to the graveyard, looking at her while adjusting his coat to avoid the cold. Standing up, she looked down to her feet before continuing, "I should probably go, Whitley never comes to get me unless father wants something. It was… nice to talk to you again." Walking away from the statue, Weiss took a moment and looked back at the woman before making her way to the gate.

"Father wants to speak with you and the two knights that were present at your test yesterday," he told her then shivered before looking back at the graveyard as they neared a castle's entrance. "I see you were visiting with her again, even in this cold."

"It is worth it," she told him then opened a door to the building and entered a long hallway where at the end they could see Ruby trying to get away from several healers. "I've also noticed that you haven't visited her at all in the past year."

"It would be pointless," he said causing the girl to freeze for a second with a shocked expression. "The dead are dead so there is no point in mourning them."

"Do you not feel sad at all?" Weiss asked him as they neared Ruby. "She was your mother."

"No, Weiss, she was _your_ mother," he told her turning around to glare at her. "I will not be lectured by you again about how she forced father to take me in once she found out about my existence and that I should be grateful for that."

"What happened to you, Whitley? You used to be such a nice child."

"I grew up, sister, and so should you," he told her then started walking away, passing by Ruby before he looked back. "You shouldn't keep father waiting."

"What was that about?" Ruby asked her as she watched Whitley leave the area.

"It's… not something that many people outside of the royal family know or talk about, but Whitley is actually my half-brother," she told her, causing Ruby to raise an eyebrow and look to the young prince. "Many years ago, my father had an affair and Whitley was born. When my mother found out, she was furious at my father, but Whitley was already three years old at the time, so she insisted that he live at the castle, claiming he was her own to save face. Eventually, she started to care for him like he was her son, and everyone at the castle soon forgot he was my half-brother. I don't know what happened to his mother, but he was treated the same as Winter and I. He used to constantly stay by my mother's side, so I don't understand why he's being like this."

"Maybe he's still sad about her death," Ruby suggested as her expression became somber. "If you want, I could talk to him. I mean, we're both half-siblings, I could possibly relate to him."

"That might be a good idea, but he might not listen to you. Trust me, I've tried, it always ends up like this," she told her then turned to Ruby. "Either way, how was your visit to the healers?"

"It was just a check-up," she told her while brushing back the right half of her bangs to reveal a split eyebrow and a scar that went up her forehead. "My head, shoulder, and hand were fine after you healed them, so all that remains are some scars."

"You should be more careful, otherwise your whole body will be covered in scars," Weiss said as she took Ruby's left hand and looked at the scar.

"Well, even if I do get hurt, you're always there to heal me. Now, if only Brynn had cut under my eye too, then we would've had matching scars," she said with a smile before Weiss flicked her in the forehead. "What was that for?"

"You shouldn't take such things likely," she said with a scowl. "If he had cut you just a bit lower, you could've lost your eye." She then grabbed the sides of Ruby's head before pulling her down to kiss the scar. "But I am grateful for you being there and protecting me." She suddenly froze once she remembered they weren't in her room. Looking around the hallway, she breathed a sigh of relief after seeing nobody was around. "Come on, my father wishes to speak with us."

* * *

Both Ruby and Weiss could hear Samuel talking to the king while they entered the main hall. On the far side of the room, they could see Mercury leaning against a column in front of the throne where the heavily clothed Samuel was standing next to the white-haired man who was sitting on the large throne.

"Father, what is this about?" Weiss asked him, walking in front of Ruby.

"Right, we will talk about this later," he said to the court wizard then turned to his daughter. "I hear congratulations are in order for passing your test."

"Thank you, father," she said bowing her head to him.

"It was only natural that you would overcome this challenge, you are a Schnee after all," he told her with a slight smirk on his face before turning to Ruby and Mercury. "Now, I believe I have you two to thank for keeping my daughter and Samuel alive and for exposing Brynn's treachery."

"We were just doing out duty as knights," Ruby said bowing to him. "Any knight would do the same in that situation."

"Modesty, always an important quality for a knight," Samuel said to her, and she could somehow feel that despite his face being hidden by his hood, he was smiling at her.

"Either way, effective immediately, you two are being promoted to serve under Captain Richard Wright of the Royal Guard," he said surprising both Ruby and Weiss while Mercury simply smirked. "This job still entails you two to do guard duty, but much less and you both will be receiving special missions from your captain and me. In addition to those duties, you two will act as my daughter's personal bodyguards whenever she is out of the castle." Ruby and Weiss both smiled at each other while Mercury's face showed a hint of dread as he tried to keep a neutral face. Jacques then turned to Samuel. "I believe you have something you want to say."

"Of course," he replied then took a step forward before his hood turned to Weiss. "Miss Schnee, you are a natural spellcaster, and I have taught you everything I can without forcing you to learn new forms of magic. Now, with you forming a bond with a Spirit of Knowledge, it shows me that you are ready for a more advanced education."

"Up in the north, there is a college that specializes in training mages," Jacques interjected. "Considering the assassination attempt, it is probably a good idea for you to leave the castle while I have my spymaster investigate this incident." He then turned to Ruby and Mercury. "For your first mission, you two will accompany my daughter to the mages college incognito. Any questions?"

"Will it be just the three of us?" Mercury asked him, getting off his column.

"No," he told him, causing Mercury to let out a slight groan that nobody seemed to notice. "The trip up north is dangerous, so you will need two more knights to accompany you there. Ironwood held Erdin Fei and Logan Sorenson in high regards, so I would suggest them. Any other questions?"

"When should we leave?" Weiss asked, looking her father in the eyes.

"The sooner, the better, if the ones who ordered your assassination realize you're still alive, they may attack the castle again," he explained then looked like he was waiting for another question only to get silence. "Very well, you may leave." Then he stood up and gestured for them to leave before he left the room with Samuel following close behind.

"So, I guess we'll all be together for a while," Ruby said to Weiss and Mercury after the two men left the room.

"Yes, it would seem so," Mercury told them while he started walking towards the main doors. "I'll go get Logan and Erdin, we'll meet at the stables before nightfall."

* * *

"Are you sure your armor will be fine?" Weiss asked Ruby as they both walked towards the castle's stables carrying their travel packs. Once she looked over to her girlfriend, she could see the younger girl was finishing putting on her black and red gauntlets. "I thought your armor was too small now."

"It's fine," Ruby told her raising an arm up to inspect the bracers portion of the gauntlet. "I spent a lot of time in the forges resizing my armor, so it fits now, I just don't have fitting chainmail."

"Well, if you say so, I just want to make sure it won't break on you."

"It won't break, after all, my dad made it," she chuckled for a moment then grabbed the doors to the stables before opening them. She then smiled before skipping into the building. "Chestnut~"

"Oh, brother," Weiss groaned as she watched Ruby skip over to the brown horse and hug its neck. "I still don't understand how you and that horse can be like that." From a nearby stall, she heard Snowflake huff in agreement.

"You're just jealous that I'm hugging someone other than you," Ruby told her then pulled the reins from the side of the stall and began putting them on Chestnut. "Hurry up and saddle Snowflake, Mercury and the others will be here soon."

"Correction, we just got here," the heard Erdin say as he and the others came into the stables, leading their horses into the building. "Apparently, we are to accompany you three to the north."

"I hate the north, especially this time of year," Logan growled while he mounted his horse, "and I can't believe that these two," he gestured to Ruby and Mercury, "are our superiors. I'm older than both of you."

"I don't believe that skill applies itself to age, Logan," Erdin said then mounted his horse. "After all, each of us is special in our own way, like your dragon slaying magic."

"I don't need your philosophy, Erdin," he grunted as the others finished saddling their horses then mounted them. "I was just saying that I've never seen a royal guard knight that young."

"Just for the record, there are four other members of the royal guard around my age," Mercury told them then turned his horse away from the building and started heading towards the gate.

"I really hate that guy," Logan said then he and Erdin followed the kickboxer away.

"So, are you ready for the trip north?" Ruby asked Weiss as Chestnut walked towards the princess.

"As long as I'm with you, I am," Weiss told her with a smile.

* * *

 **Ok, so that was a bit of exposition stuffed into one chapter, pretty much out of nowhere. So let's go down the list, or just cover the major parts.**

 **Weiss is noticing Ruby's changes. I felt like I've been focusing a bit too much on Ruby for the last few chapters, so I figured that I might was well put in that Weiss is pretty observant.**

 **Whitley is Weiss's half-brother, I've been trying to set this one up for a while, but I could never fit it in properly due to a lack of Whitley scenes. So I basically told myself that I was going to introduce this fact into the story before Ruby and Weiss go off to the magic college.**

 **Ruby and Mercury are promoted to the royal guard. I mean, they did stop an assassination attempt and find out Brynn was a 'traitor,' even though Mercury did set him up.**

 **Logan and Erdin are coming with to the magic college. Why not? They actually are my favorite non-animal OCs for this story, which is why they've been periodically popping in.**

 **So, one last thing. I know I'm not a great writer, writing-wise, and about how good I am at storytelling can be put up for debate. Anyway, I know I often make mistakes when writing the chapters, and those mistakes often are overlooked when I edit, so they appear when I post the chapter, then I only notice them after I go back to browse a chapter. I have a separate document on my computer filled with chapter names and mistakes that I need to correct.**

 **So what I'm trying to get at is if you guys notice something wrong with the chapters, tell me. I know a common list of my mistakes are: putting she when I meant he, using commas a bit too much, using 'as' pretty often, and the apparent inconsistency of capitalizing titles (from what I've found, putting 'the' in front of the title _can_ mean that I can not capitalize the title unless it's sort of an official title, basically the difference between 'the princess' and 'the Princess of Atlas').**

 **Anyway, if you notice something, feel free to tell me. I never get mad at reviews critiquing my work, but I might get a bit sassy (there is a difference, and Sassy Van does it with no ill will), and it does help me become a better writer.**

 **I am now tired and have class at 9 in the morning, so I need to sleep soon.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	76. Sword Fight

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A with the newest chapter of the Princess and the Rose. Like last chapter, I'm not going to do much with the first AN so you guys can just get straight to the chapter.**

 **Reviews:**

 **Rapter267: I'm "not" making a College of Winterhold rip-off. That would be 'too predictable' for me. I mean, I am always one hundred percent original, just don't look too deep into the origin of: Fort Mantle, the Fade, the descriptions of demons, and most definitely not Logan Sorenson. I think you guys might enjoy what I do for the Mage's College.**

 **Yakosh: I think like I said in a previous AN, it would basically be the equivalent of Yang suddenly betraying her, since she basically sees Mercury as an older brother.**

 **iamking: Thanks.**

 **steelbone532: I know people enjoy my story, I just can't help but look at my own work with a critical eye. Like, I can barely even open my earlier work since it is so cringe worthy to me. I wish you luck on your story, and maybe the next time I have time to read Fanfiction, I'll check out your story.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: I mean, I'm trying to sort of go with Hemingway Style for arcs that I'm trying to get through so I avoid doing filler chapters. There are several routes for Whitley, like maybe I'll have him admit he's sad to Weiss, or even be friends with Ruby from them bonding over each being half-siblings, even though Ruby is technically Yang's cousin. I figured the parallels would be nice with the beginning of the story when Ruby visited her mom's gravestone. The lack of chainmail may or may not be important during the college arc.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Blake took a deep breath as she notched an arrow on her bowstring. She had been tracking the same deer for several hours now through the snow-covered forest by silently leaping between the tree line. The animal had not noticed her by this point, so she took her time raising her weapon to aim at the deer's center. Breathing out, she released the string.

* * *

Yang was in her makeshift forge at one end of Qrow's barn, holding a long black ōdachi with a yellow cloth grip and was sharpening the blade using her whetstone. Inspecting the weapon, stood up and held the grip with both hands before swinging it at a nearby thick log, cutting the top off diagonally. Looking at the weapon with a smile, she picked up a nearby sheath that appeared to have one side missing before inserting the blade into the open side, hearing a click as the weapon locked in.

She then slung the sheath's leather strap over her shoulder just as the door to the barn opened. Turning around, she saw Blake enter the building carrying a field dressed deer she had tied its legs together to make it easier to carry. Without saying anything to the blacksmith, she walked over to the back end of the barn and hung it upside down on a hook before placing a metal trough underneath it to catch the blood.

"So, you got another big one this week?" Yang asked her as she walked over to the assassin. "I think we still have meat from the last deer left over."

"You finished that this morning with your breakfast," Blake remarked then turned around. "Like before, I'll take a lot of its meat to town in the morning to sell most of it to the tavern and I'll bring the rest over to Marcus and Carina's place at the edge of town." She paused for a moment and watched blood start to drip into the trough. "We have about half an hour for the blood to drip out before we can start preserving it."

"So, wanna train for a bit then?" she suggested then pointed to the large door with her thumb. "I think I finally got my sword sharp enough."

"Sure," she told her then started walking to the door. "Go get your gear."

* * *

Both Yang and Blake walked out into the open area between the buildings. Blake was wearing the same armor she had gotten a year before, but she was wearing an enchanted chainmail suit underneath, a bow and quiver secured to her back, metal bracers on her arms, and boots with a row of small spikes to allow her to climb trees easier. Yang was still wearing her heavy armor, but now halves of her crystals were combined with her gauntlets on the inside of her forearms just below the wrists. Her ōdachi was secured to her back with the hilt over her right shoulder and she was wearing her long hair into a ponytail.

"Same rules as usual?" Yang asked her while she was walking away from the assassin. "Fifty meters, no magic, no stabbing, no spikes on gauntlets, and no direct blows to exposed skin?"

"Of course, we can't have a repeat of your first ōdachi," Blake told her as she stood in her spot and pulled the longbow off her back.

"Ok, I did not mean to stab you, I just didn't know how to properly wield that sword," she defended herself when she was roughly twenty meters away.

"The you stabbed me in the arm, Yang."

"But it healed, didn't it?"

"That's not the point!"

"You're right, you're right," Yang told her once she reached roughly fifty meters away. "You… you aren't going to stab me today, right?"

"We'll see," Blake said notching an arrow and aiming it at the brawler.

"Uhh… let's go… I guess," Yang said reaching up to the hilt.

As soon as she twisted the blade, hearing a click once the weapon was freed, an arrow immediately flew past her head. Pulling the weapon in front of herself to hold with both hands, Yang started running towards Blake. Moving ten meters forward, she had to raise her sword and twist the blade slightly, just in time to deflect another arrow. Moving in another ten meters, she tilted the ōdachi downward to deflect the third arrow before bringing the weapon to her side and sprinting at Blake.

The assassin fired off one last arrow at Yang before throwing the longbow off to the side and grasping her katana's hilt. As she watched the brawler deflect the last arrow, she quickly moved into a fighting stance and began to focus.

Just before she reached her, Yang swung her sword at Blake as hard as she could, only to be staggered back once she felt metal meet metal. When she looked back at the faunus, she could only see her sheathe the katana once again before returning to her original stance.

"Come on, Yang, put those sword fighting skills I taught you into practice," Blake told her as her left hand reached over to her hip and grabbed the shortsword.

"I'm trying!" Yang nearly shouted as she swung her sword at Blake, only to have her duck under the weapon.

"That's not good enough," she nearly shouted back while she drew her shortsword and slammed the blade into Yang's armor.

Jumping in the air over the brawler, Blake drew her katana and slashed at Yang's armor. Once she landed, she slashed at Yang's back three times, scraping against the armor causing sparks to fly. Then she kicked Yang in the back, knocking her to the ground.

"Fine then, I guess I'll have to," Yang said as she planted one hand on the ground before kicking off with one leg to spin around and push off to stand back on her feet. She then held the ōdachi with both hands, aiming the blade at Blake, giving her a glowing red glare.

"Alright, here I come," she said with a smirk before launching herself at Yang.

She swung the katana at her while in the air, so Yang raised her weapon to catch the sword in time. As Blake swung the shortsword, Yang tilted her weapon to catch the sword with the bottom half of her blade. She then pushed forward with her ōdachi, knocking Blake back for a moment, allowing Yang to raise her foot and kick the assassin back.

Yang then began to slash diagonally at Blake, only giving her a small chance to block with her own swords. She then jumped in the air, bringing the long sword above her head before slashing the weapon downward, aimed at Blake.

The assassin looked up, but didn't raise her weapon to block. She simply sidestepped before Yang slammed into the ground. Then she stepped on the ōdachi before slamming both her swords into Yang's side, throwing the brawer to the side.

"And that's my win," Blake said as she sheathed her swords then reached down to pick up the ōdachi. As soon as she tried to pick up the weapon, she could immediately feel its weight, barely making it budge. "Yang, why is your weapon so heavy?"

"So I can use it properly," she grunted in a response, picking herself up before walking over and picking up her sword with ease. "I will never be as fast as you, but when I hit, I'll hit hard." Locking the ōdachi into its sheath, she turned around and started walking back towards the barn then looked back at the faunus. "Well, it's been about half an hour, let's get that deer's meat. I'd rather not have a deer carcass hanging in the barn for too long."

"Let me cut the meat, I don't want you cutting it in uneven pieces," Blake told her as she started running after the blonde.

* * *

"I could've handled it," Yang said to Blake, placing a burlap sack filled with her armor near the doorway as they both entered the house. "I don't see why you had to tie my feet together with the kusarigama."

"You looked like you were going to cut the deer with your sword, ruining our chances to make leather," Blake told her as she walked past her, placing her weapons on the table before removing her armor. "Either way, we have venison for a few days."

"Yeah, that'll be nice, I could even deliver some to dad tomorrow," Yang said walking by as she started taking off her tunic.

Blake's eyes were immediately drawn towards the brawler's abdomen, causing her to blush and turn away from her. "Y-Yang, have you no shame?!" she nearly shouted as she raised her hands up to cover her face.

"What's wrong?" Yang asked, legitimately confused as she put on a clean shirt. "I didn't want to wear that sweaty shirt."

"Why would you do that in the dining room?"

"What? It's just the two of us, and rarely anyone comes out to the farm at night."

"J-just try to change in your room, honestly, you do this every day," Blake said walking past her, nearing the stairs.

"Well, if I do this every day, then you shouldn't expect anything less from me," Yang told her as they both walked up the stairs and entered the hallway, seeing a cabinet on one side of the hall next a window.

"That is besides the poi-" she suddenly cut herself off as she sniffed the air. "Yang… there's an intruder in the house."

"What, who?" she asked raising her fists.

"The _thing_ ," Blake said, the distain in her voice evident to the blonde brawler.

"What, Zwei?" Yang asked her, lowing her fists. "You're probably still smelling his scent from a few days ago."

"No, Yang, I can tell the difference between the scent of a dog from a few days ago versus a dog that is currently here."

"Well, he does often get into locked building on his own, so maybe he showed up while you were out hunting, and I was in my forge," she suggested as she watched Blake open the door to her room to make sure the corgi wasn't in there. "I'll check up here, you go back downstairs and make sure he isn't in the pantry eating our dried meat."

"Alright, fine," Blake told her as she started walking down the stairs with an annoyed expression on her face.

Yang immediately turned around and lightly clapped her hands. A small door near the bottom of the cabinet opened and the smiling corgi started trotting out, nearing the blonde. Zwei was about to bark, but she quickly raised a finger up to her lips, signaling to the dog to be quiet.

"Yang, I don't see the _thing_ down here," she heard Blake call from downstairs.

"Check the cupboards, even the high ones, Zwei is a tricky dog," Yang told her then giggled as she pushed the corgi into Blake's room, scratching behind his ear before closing the door.

"He's not down here, did you find anything?" she asked as she started walking up the stairs.

"No, I didn't find him," Yang said then backed up a few feet when she watched Blake enter the hall. "Maybe you're just paranoid."

"Whatever, I guess I'll just read my book then go to bed," Blake said then opened her door before walking in.

"Ok, have fun," she said as she watched the door close. Then she immediately turned around and started running to her room at the end of the hall.

Before she could reach her room, she heard Blake's door being thrown open. "Yang!" Blake shouted as she ran into the hallway, holding Zwei by the back of his collar, but he seemed to still be happily panting with his tongue sticking out. Yang barely had any time to react before a corgi came flying at her face. Once the two collided, she was thrown through the door to her room, landing on her back. "Keep that _thing_ out of my room." Blake slammed the door, causing both Yang and Zwei to wince.

"Don't worry, she'll get there, sometime," Yang said then let out a groan as she started to feel the pain in her back.

"Arf," Zwei barked then yawned before licking her face.

"Yeah, yeah, let's go get some sleep," she said picking him up and walking over to her bed.

* * *

A one-horned bull faunus walked over to the ledge of a cliff overlooking the city of vale and watched the denizens move throughout the city at night. He heard the sound of rustling behind him, so he quickly reached for his sword and quickly drew it for a powerful strike, only to have his hand stop the blade before it came in contact with the shadowy figure behind him. The figure then chuckled for a moment before raising their hand causing a fireball to form in their palm, lighting up the features of Cinder Fall.

"Quite the jumpy one, aren't you?" Cinder asked him with a sly smile as she snapped her fingers, forcing Adam to sheathe his glowing red sword. "Good, with my most trusted subordinates no longer here, I'll need you here for defense."

"What are we doing here?" Adam demanded as he looked at her. "Over a year of travelling for your master, we come here. Why?"

"Reconnaissance," she simply answered him. "There's something hidden in Vale that we need to find. I can search the city myself, and it would be ill advised to have a revenant wandering through the capital city."

"Then what do you want me to do?"

"I have a small mission for you that I think you'll enjoy," she said, standing next to him before pointing out past Vale's bay where both of them could see an island. "That is the island of Patch, home of the silver-eyed one that fought you, and where both Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna currently reside." She then turned to him and looked him in the eyes. "I want you to destroy it."

* * *

 **So yeah, that happened. Adam is back, and so is Cinder.**

 **Couple of things:**

 **Yang is decent at sword fighting, which makes sense since she was trained by Blake.**

 **Blake is using her longbow in combat. This isn't really that surprising since I had Ruby mention on several occasions that Blake was getting better at using the bow.**

 **Marcus, Carina, and Patrick are on the island. I did hint that they might go to Patch at the end of the siege arc, and after the other deserters died, I figured they wouldn't want to stay in Atlas.**

 **Blake is starting to take a notice of 'dem abs. Self explanatory.**

 **Last thing... ZWEI! The corgi may or may not have been my favorite part of this chapter, because, well... CORGI! I like St. Bernards and corgis, so my preference with dogs goes: really big pupper, or small adorable pupper (that's not chiwawas, because those are rats filled with anxiety and hate).**

 **For this arc, I'm planning on writing it much faster than the other chapters, so I probably won't be sticking to the once a week on Sunday night schedule. I'll basically post chapters after they are done being written.**

 **Anyway, I have to wake up early tomorrow, so I'm going to sleep now.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	77. Secrets Revealed

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A, back with another chapter of The Princess and the Rose. Second chapter of this arc that is going by reasonably fast to get back to the Whiterose storyline, but that doesn't mean I'm just rushing this arc. I mean, I kind of am, but I'm still spending about the same amount of time actually writing the chapters as others before, I just get off my lazy butt faster. Interesting side note before going to reviews, apparently listening to video game soundtracks make you focus on whatever task you're doing because they were made to make people pay attention to the game. So I now have a new system for when I write for background noise instead of a movie.**

 **Reviews:**

 **Rapter267: I know, but the only real difference is the spelling. Also, the reason why I have it written as odachi is because Raven's weapon is officially referred to as an odachi, and Yang made her's because she saw Raven's. I want to play For Honor, but alas, I have no money to spend on video games, but I have Xbox Gold, so I get free games every month.**

 **Yakosh: Oh yeah, I know over-head strikes are terrible... kinda why I threw it in there. She's not a master swordswoman, so she'll go with the fighting style that uses powerful attacks. Exactly, they are just rats that people picked up and said, 'you're ugly, but I'll keep you in my purse to show off to my friends.' Then the little monsters go nuts. Any dog smaller than a corgi is basically an insane poop monster that has major anxiety issues.**

 **Xyander64: I know it came out fast, that was kind of the point. I also did make the promise of possible Bumbleby getting started, but of course, it'll be a slow burn like Whiterose, sorry.**

 **KibaPT: I used to have cats, and my border collie** _loved_ **the cats, and the cats tolerated her, which is about the best thing you can expect from cats. My current Saint Bernard also loves cats, but my collie/lab has the problem of, she'll attack anything smaller than her because she's a small dog and feels inferior to the Saint Bernard.**

 **Guest: I can understand why you would want to skip over it, and I wouldn't blame you, but I will say you might miss some character development and set ups for future plots.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Oh, he is not. I brought him back for the sole reason of raising hell and for... other reasons you'll probably figure out from this opening. It's Yang, of course she would wield a big-ass sword. When I came up with this originally, I was going to have her use a buster sword like Cloud from FF7 to use as a sword and shield, but then decided on the odachi for her character arc.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Blake shot up in her bed with a quick shout, being woken suddenly from her sleep. Breathing heavily, she looked down to her hand and saw it quivering. She then clenched her fist before bringing it up to wipe the sweat from her brow.

"Another nightmare?" Yang asked from the doorway.

"How long have you been standing there?" Blake asked her after she noticed her presence.

"Not too long, I only came in after I heard you yell," she explained walking over to her. "Was it Adam?"

"Yes, but it was not just him. I was reliving my time in the White Fang. It's been over a year, but I still hear the screams. All of those people I've killed…" she told her as her cat ears started to droop while pulling her knees up to her chest as Yang sat next to her on the bed.

"Hey, hey, it's fine." she said raising a hand to start rubbing Blake's back. "You're not the same person you were before."

"I know I'm not, I haven't killed a single person since Fort Mantle, but the memories still remain." Yang looked over to her and could see tears welling up in her eyes. She was about to say something, but Blake's ear twitched as they both heard some rustling under the blankets. "Yang… did you let the dog into my room."

"N-no," she replied, starting to move back while Blake's hand reached under the covers.

"Yang…"

"I didn't let him in."

"Then explain this!" Blake then pulled the corgi out from the bed by the scruff, keeping him at arm's length while aiming him at the brawler.

"W-well, you know, Zwei does get into things on his own," Yang tried to explain as she stood up and started back up to the door.

"Sure, Yang," she told her then threw the dog at her. Yang managed to dodge the canine projectile, but Zwei planted his feet on the wall behind her for a moment before launching himself off, colliding with her back. Blake let out a soft chuckle as she wiped the faint tears from her eyes before getting out of the bed and walking towards the door. "Come on, we have errands today."

"I think I broke my nose," Yang commented, rolling over to lay on her back and bringing a hand up to her nose. Looking at the hand, she breathed a sigh of relief after she saw no blood. "I'm fine."

"Hurry up," she said then exited the room and started walking downstairs.

Yang let out a short groan then rested her head on the wooden floor. She then felt an uncomfortable weight on her stomach as Zwei climbed on top of her and sat down. "Just how much does dad feed you?"

"Arf!" Zwei barked then began panting as he watched her sigh.

"Come on, I'll help you get into your armor." She grabbed the dog's side before standing up and walking back to her room.

* * *

"I'm telling you, I didn't let Zwei into your room," Yang told Blake as they rode their horses into the town. She could feel Blake's glare from behind her, aimed at the dog she had sitting in her saddlebag facing the faunus. "He has a habit of trying to comfort people, so maybe he knew you were having a nightmare."

"I highly doubt that. I'm sure it was just trying to terrorize me."

"He wouldn't do that, he's too much of a sweetheart," she said reaching down to pet the corgi. "Anyway, I'll head straight over to my dad's shop. You come by after you're done at Marcus and Carina's place. We can go to the tavern afterwards for lunch."

"Alright, but you're paying this time," Blake told her as they stopped in the town square.

"I… may have forgotten my coin purse," Yang said with a chuckle, scratching the back of her head.

"Of course, which is why I made sure to put your coin purse in your saddlebag," she said then clicked her cheek to signal for Nightmare to start moving again. "Try not to lose it like last time. I heard that the man who found it bought a small ship with the insane amount of gold you left in there."

"Well, it's not like I'm going to be running short any time soon."

"That is not a good mentality to have," Blake told her then gave a quick wave before she started riding down the street.

"Yeah, yeah, but it is true. Weiss's dad gave us way too much gold," Yang muttered to herself as she turned down a side road heading towards the shop. She heard Zwei let out a low growl, so she looked to where he was growling at only to see a large black bird with red eyes looking at her before letting out a croak and flying off. "Come on, Zwei, it's just a bird."

"Grr," Zwei growled as he watched the bird fly out of view. He then struggled in the bag for a moment before hopping out and chasing after the black bird.

"Zwei!" she called after him, dismounting her horse and trying to chase after him, only to stop as she watched the corgi slip between buildings. "Fine, just be back before nighttime!" Grabbing the reins of Bumblebee, she began leading the horse to her father's shop before tying it to a nearby post. She then reached into the saddlebags to grab the packaged venison, but as soon as she brought it out, her hand slipped causing the meat to fall to the ground. Looking at her hands for a moment and raising an eyebrow, she quickly picked up the meat and walked in. "Dad? Are you here?"

She didn't get a response, but from the other side of the shop, she could hear the sounds of an argument coming from the back. Holding the packaged meat in one hand, Yang slowly started walking towards the back door while clenching her other fist.

"What were you thinking, Qrow?" she could hear her father nearly shout, causing Yang to lower her hands after she heard Qrow's name. "She's just a girl."

"Ruby is a young woman, capable of making her own choices," Qrow told him as Yang slipped into the back of the shop and placed the meat in where Tai kept all the cold storage. "If you were really this adamant against her becoming a knight, why didn't you just travel to Atlas yourself and drag her back?"

"Don't you try and pass this onto me! You were there, and you should've at least tried to convince her to not be a knight and come back home, where she'll be safe."

Yang paused as she heard the anger if Tai's voice, her hands trembling as she remembered her dad's reaction to Ruby's letter. _'Why would he lie like that? Was he really mad this entire time?'_ she thought then started walking towards the two men.

"She'll be safe where she is now. She's a palace guard for crying out loud, I don't think there's any other place she'd be safer."

"You still had no right-"

"I had no right? I had every right to push her towards the option that made her happy," Qrow interrupted him just as Yang entered the dining room to see the two men looking like they were about to start a fight. "I'm her father!"

Yang froze as she heard what Qrow had just said, trying to process it. _'Uncle Qrow is Ruby's… dad?'_

* * *

Blake rode Nightmare down the road, passing by several homes. Shortly after exiting the town, she came across a small cottage that seemed fairly new. In front of the cottage, she could see the figure of Marcus chopping logs and stacking it next to the house.

As soon as he turned around, he noticed her approaching the house. "Blake, what brings you here today?" Marcus asked her while she dismounted her horse and began digging into the saddlebag.

"I killed another deer yesterday, and it had too much meat for Yang and I to eat," she told him as she pulled the packaged meat from the bag and held it out for him.

"Blake, you don't have to keep doing this for us," he told her as he took the meat from her then turned around to walk towards the house, motioning for her to follow. "When we came to this island, you helped us out by giving us gold to build this house and now you stop by every week to give us food."

"Marcus, I want to do it," she said following him. "We're all White Fang deserters, and it is my fault Carina lost her leg."

"Come on, stop beating yourself up over that, we all knew what we were getting into at the time," he said entering the house with her. "Carina is getting used to life with a peg leg, and Patrick has always been a great help to her. I'm sure they'd tell you the same thing, but they're not here right now."

Once they both entered the main house, Marcus placed the meat on the nearby table and walked over to a corner of the room, placing his woodcutter's axe next to a small number of weapons, including a zweihander that had a wolf head pommel. She walked in further and sat down on the fourth chair next to the table while he pulled a small loaf of bread from a basket in the middle of the table, holding it up to offer some to her, but she waved him off.

"I know we don't often sit down and talk, but how have you guys been coping since Mantle?" she asked, looking down at her hand and seeing it shake slightly.

"Well, it hasn't been easy," he said in a somber tone, looking down. "The king gave us special pardon, but it doesn't change the fact that everyone else that left with us was slaughtered in that cell. In some cruel irony, you saved us by bringing us behind enemy lines." He paused to look around as his gaze was drawn towards a nearby door that led to the rest of the house. "But that's in the past. The people on this island have been more than accommodating. Carina is used to her peg leg, but every occasionally, she'll trip or lose footing. Patrick is constantly by her side, and I think he's finally becoming more like a fourteen-year-old kid."

"Do you… do you ever remember your time in the White Fang?" She clenched her fist and tightened her jaw before looking to the side of the room, seeing the White Fang zweihander.

"Ah, now I see," he said with a soft chuckle before looking up at her. "All the time. I've done many things in the White Fang that I wasn't proud of, and every night I still see the faces of the men I've killed. I can't even imagine what you went through, working beside Adam. You need to learn to live with this burden on your shoulders, but that doesn't mean you have to carry it by yourself. I'm sure your human friend is strong enough to help you out."

Blake smirked before letting out a sigh and standing up. "Thank you, Marcus. I should probably go, I'm meeting up with Yang for lunch. I think I'll take your advice." Before exiting the house, she turned back to him. "Also, make sure to tell Patrick and Carina I said hi."

"I'm sure you're going to have a chance to say so yourself," he told her, gesturing through the open door to see two figures walking down the road. "Take care of yourself."

"You too," she said leaving the building.

As she neared her horse, she could see Carina walking with her right arm over Patrick's shoulder while she carried a small bag filled with various items from town. The dog faunus was taller than he had been since the fort, but he was still shorter than Carina and he was wearing an unusually bright green cloak that caught Blake's attention. The cheetah faunus was wearing regular clothing, except that on her right leg, her pant leg has been pulled up and tied, exposing the maple wood leg.

With both of them out of breath, Blake decided against engaging in conversation, but waved to them both before mounting her horse. They waved back to her, giving her a soft smile then continued walking into the cottage. She briefly looked back at the simple house as the door shut behind the faunus, then spurred Nightmare's side, signaling to the horse to ride back to town.

* * *

"D-dad, what's going on?" Yang asked him, her voice quivering with each word. Both men turned to her and immediately froze in shock as they just realized what she had heard. "Uncle Qrow, y-you're Ruby's dad?"

"Shit," Tai cursed under his breath and shot Qrow a glare before turning back to Yang. "Yang, you need to understand-"

"So, it's true?" she interrupted him him, taking a step forward, only causing her feet to fail her, nearly making her fall to the ground before she caught herself on a nearby counter. Looking up at the two, her vision began to blur as her heart began racing. "Ruby isn't my sister."

"Yang, it's not as simple as that," Tai tried to explain to her, walking over to his daughter.

"How, dad? How could it not be as simple as that?" she nearly shouted at him, her fingers causing smoke to rise from the wooden counter as her eyes turned red. "Is Ruby my sister or not?"

"No, she's not," Qrow answered her. Tai immediately looked over to the black-haired man with a glare which only got the response of the man pulling the flask from his belt and taking a drink.

Yang's eyes blinked back to their original lilac before she felt her legs start to quiver as soon after she heard Qrow's confirmation. Her knees then buckled causing the girl to stumble, but Tai quickly reached over and caught her arm before she could fall. He then reached back and pulled over a nearby chair before helping her sit down.

"I'm sure you have many questions, but now isn't the best-" Tai said, only to have Yang's palms slam into his chest, pushing him back.

"Why?" Yang asked her dad, looking up at him with tears starting to form in her eyes. "Why did you lie all these years?"

Tai was silent, looking over to the mage for a possible answer only to get a wide-eyed shrug. "Well, it's… it's…" he said trying to come up with an answer, causing Qrow to sigh while securing his flask to his belt.

"It's because I asked him to," Qrow interjected, looking at Yang.

"Why?" she asked, now looking at Qrow.

"It was the best option, for all of us," he said sitting down on a nearby chair. He then turned to Tai before bringing up a hand to rub his temples.

"Many years ago, after your mom left me, I brought you here with me to live with Qrow and Summer for a while," Tai began to explain to her. "It was after our days as a team, and both of them had retired to their house away from the town."

"Because of my bad luck magic being uncontrollable, we didn't like living around people, and Summer always helped me keep my magic in check," Qrow continued, lowering his head. "The four of us were fine for the first year, except for the occasional accident, but shortly after we found out Summer was pregnant with Ruby, my magic caused a small portion of the house to collapse. That was when I decided my magic was too dangerous to be around children."

"So, the three of us came together and decided to have Summer and I raise you and Ruby." Tai looked over to the other man. "Qrow came up with the idea to be 'the uncle,' so that way he could still see you two growing up, but Summer wouldn't have any of it."

"She nearly threw me through a door," Qrow chuckled to himself before the slight smile faded. "Eventually, she agreed to it, deciding that you two growing up together as sisters was the best idea, at least giving you the sense of normalcy. Then…" His expression hardened before his face was obscured by shadows as a nearby window cracked. "Then Summer disappeared. You were old enough to remember how we all were at the time, I barely even visited because my bad luck was causing disasters on the farm, even attracting a pack of grimm that all died by bad luck."

"I had to make the trip to visit him, and we decided to keep going on with this charade until both of you were old enough," Tai explained, but immediately stopped as soon as Yang stood up.

"When? When were you going to tell us? When we were adults, or maybe later, or were you two just going to keep this a secret to your graves?" she questioned them, her eyes now glowing red as tears streamed down her face. Both Tai and Qrow stood up as they saw the red in her eyes. "Both us were old enough to leave home and fight in sieges against murder cults, but we were too young to learn that we were actually cousins?" They then watched in caution as her eye color slowly turned back to lilac, but then they were shocked as they continued to fade, changing into a bright blue. "All of my life, I believed that Ruby and I were sisters, but now I know that the two only other people I've considered family have been lying to me for as long as I can remember." Bringing up a hand to wipe away her tears, she turned around and took a step forward.

"Yang, please-" Tai said stepping forward and placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" Yang immediately shouted at him, turning around to swat his hand away, her eyes now a bright red with slit pupils, surprising the blond man. Without saying another word, she stormed off, heading into the shop before they both heard the sounds of a small explosion.

After looking down in silence, the two men turned to each other and walked into the shop, seeing slight burn damages near the entrance and the door on fire in the middle of the street. Looking outside, they could see Bumblebee still tied up outside and a set of footprints in melted snow leading away.

"God damnit," Qrow said as he punched the nearby wall. "This day could not get any worse." From behind them, both men heard a familiar ringing sound followed by a cold breeze. "Right, because of course it can."

They turned around and saw a familiar woman in red armor and a large grimm mask standing in front of a red and black portal before it closed. Then they noticed in her arms, she was holding an armored Zwei that was gnawing on her wrist, only mildly annoying the woman.

"Raven," Tai said in disbelief.

"We need to talk," she told them, taking off her mask.

* * *

 **(Small Update Van: Hey! Hello! I said I would come back and edit this chapter, and I did! The changes aren't much, but I did change the flow to the beginning of Tai and Qrow explaining things to Yang. It's not a perfect edit, but I will be going back to fix it eventually.)**

 **All right! Now that was a bit of stuff all at once.**

 **I figured I wouldn't write out Blake's nightmare because, well, to be honest, I didn't have time, but also because it wasn't that important. Basically, she's having PTSD, and no, she's not going to be possessed because of it. For Ruby it was because she was being reminded of a deep-rooted psychological trauma that she had repressed. Also, Blake would know from Ruby's possession what the possible consequences are, so she wouldn't be so easy to possess.**

 **Marcus, Carina, and Patrick are in. They'll be important later.**

 **Now then, the big one... Yang found out the truth about Ruby. I was going to have this be revealed during this arc one way or another. It felt natural that Qrow would let this slip while arguing with Tai. Then they had to explain their reasoning to her, but wait... Did Yang's eyes turn blue!?**

 **It's my own personal theory that I don't know if other people have come up with, but I think Yang's eyes will be able to turn blue in the show. Since her eyes turn blue when she's mad and out of control, then maybe when she's calm and focused, they turn blue. It's just my own theory, and I figured it would mesh nicely with my story because of magic and stuff. Also, it'll help conveying her emotions just by writing, 'her eyes slowly shifting to blue,' or something along those lines.**

 **Then finally, Raven is back... more on this next time.**

 **Speaking of next time, I will probably not be able to post the next chapter on Wednesday because I have two papers to do this week and an exam. I know, college sucks, but this is why I wanted to finish these last two ahead of schedule because I have something planned for this next few weeks, and I need to get to a certain point before I can do a thing.**

 **Anyway, I need to get to homework now, so...**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	78. Family

**Hello, everyone, I am J. Van A with the latest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. Before I begin, I _know_ that the last chapter felt a bit rushed and unnatural. Don't worry, I'm going to go back and fix the pacing of the chapter tomorrow, possibly tonight. It won't change the story at all, but it will fix the pacing.**

 **Reviews:**

 **ShadowPony12 (I know you won't read this, but I make an effort to respond to all reviews): I won't hold it against you for dropping the story for not liking the Qrow being Ruby's dad theory. I hope you enjoyed the story up until that point.**

 **steelbone532: Very high, and getting higher!**

 **bankerrtx01: I really wish I could make a Maury reference, but it would basically be 'the crowd goes 'OOH!'.'**

 **xYANDER64: It was Adam interrupting happy fun times. In all honesty, I would've preferred to go with that tavern scene, but that's not how SUSPENSE Van goes! (That's right, people reading random responses to reviews, I'm bringing back my slip personalities!)**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: I'm probably going to go back to fix the pacing of the last chapter. There is a little drama, but I think I handled it nicely. This chapter does focus on Yang, but whatever, next chapter is more Blake-related.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Raven," Tai repeated, still in disbelief as he watched his ex-wife place her grimm mask down and look to her brother.

"What do you want, Raven?" Qrow asked his sister, instinctively reaching his hand to his side and grab his broadsword's hilt. "Why the hell would you show up now?"

"The tribe was attacked," she told them placing Zwei on the ground, who promptly started gnawing on her boot while growling. "Our losses were minimal, but we're scattered at the moment."

"What does that have to do with why you're here?" he asked as he snapped his fingers, signaling to Zwei to run away from his sister. "The tribe gets attacked all the time, and you've never come running before."

"We were attacked by Salem's men, two of them," Raven explained, walking over to the side of the shop, and rested against a nearby counter before looking back at Qrow. "If anything, it was a show of power. A small retaliation due to my efforts to know my enemy, and my involvement in the siege last year against Cinder most likely played a part."

"So that still begs the question of why you are here?" Qrow asked again, starting to get annoyed. "In case you can't tell, now isn't really the best time."

"I've come to collect you," she said causing Tai to clench his fist and look off to the side. "The tribe needs to be at the height of its power, or else we are going to be destroyed."

"Eighteen years," Tai uttered, causing a silence to fill the room as the Branwen twins looked over to him. "Eighteen years, you are gone, and the first time you show up is to take your brother back to your stupid tribe."

"Tai, I don't think this is the-" Qrow said only to be interrupted by the man walking towards his ex-wife.

"You." He pointed at Raven, his tone causing both sibling to back up slightly. "You have no idea what I had to go through to take care of _our_ daughter after you left," Tai seethed, walking over to her. "Yang was not even a month old when I traveled here. Countless times, I had to fend off packs of grimm and wild animals, just to keep her safe. I was barely even standing by the time I made it to Qrow and Summer's house."

"Tai-" she said, only to be interrupted by him slamming his fist into a nearby counter, breaking it.

"But even after all of that, there was always a little part of me that hoped… that hoped you would just come back," he said getting quieter. "After all you've done, I still loved you, but now I see it was all one-sided." Bringing up his left hand, he removed the golden band from his ring finger and let it drop to the floor. "I've said my piece. Now, I'm going to go look for my daughter." Walking away in silence, he paused to look back for a brief moment before leaving through the open doorway.

"That could've gone much worse," Qrow remarked, taking out his flask for a quick drink.

Without saying anything, Raven reached down and picked up the wedding band, causing Qrow to raise an eyebrow. Looking at it for a moment, she closed her hand before looking up at her brother. "I'm not going to force you to return with me, but I expect an answer soon."

"No," he instantly replied, securing his flask back to his belt. "I am already busy as it is, investigating every one of the King of Atlas's relatives to try and find out which one is working for Salem. I have been to every single continent, tracking down every single person that may have a drop of royal blood in them, but I haven't found anything. Then I was dragged back to Vale by Oz with the planal knife to give a report, so now I have to get back to my search since I brought him nothing. I don't have the time to be helping out those murderers and thieves."

"At least think about it. Which is more important, Qrow: your duty, or your family?"

"In this case, I will have to go with duty," he told her, turning around, and started walking towards the doorway as smoke started to billow off his body. "Maybe you should be asking yourself that same question, because from what I can tell, I'm not the only one here bound by duty." Shortly after, Raven was left in silence as she watched Qrow fly away into the town.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she opened her hand to further inspect the ring. After looking at it for a while, she removed her left gauntlet and chainmail glove revealing a similar gold band. She reached up and began pulling off the ring but hesitated before she could fully remove the piece of jewelry. With a sigh, she slipped the ring back on, and placed Tai's ring on the nearby counter before pulling her gauntlet back on.

As Raven walked over to the other side of the room to retrieve her grimm mask, she looked down and saw Zwei looking up at her in a very alert stance. "You can quit that, I'm leaving," she told the dog as she donned the mask. Zwei then barked quickly before trotting out of the building and laid down on the front porch. She quickly drew her sword and slashed at the air creating the large red and black portal before walking through it.

* * *

As Blake rode through the town, her cat ears twitched under their bow as she heard the sounds of the tavern. Dismounting Nightmare and walking towards the building only to see figure of a familiar knight. "Qrow?" she asked, walking over to the man.

"Ah, the assassin," he said as he recognized her voice while turning around. Hearing his remark, her ears drooped on her head slightly as her grip on Nightmare's reins tightened. "I'm sorry, but I'm not exactly in the mood to chat, kid."

"Well, I'm sure Yang would like to hear you've retur-"

"She already knows," he interrupted her as he brought his flask from his belt to take a drink, "and I'm sure she would've preferred it if I didn't come back at this point, not that I can blame her."

"What happened?"

"I'm not even sure if it's in my place to say, but Yang stormed off after she saw me and her dad arguing," he told her then took another drink from the flask. "She left without taking her horse, and I don't even know where she went."

"Then we should go look for her," she said mounting her horse and then looked at the man who kept drinking from his flask. "Are you coming?"

"No, I don't think I'm really the best person for her to see right now," he told her then placed the flask back on his belt. "If you want to track her down, you're welcome to it."

"Alright…" she said raising an eyebrow at him as she watched the man slick his hair back before walking towards the tavern's door, "just take it easy on the ale."

"No promises," he sighed as he entered the building.

Riding away from the tavern, she made her way towards the blacksmith shop, seeing the charred remains of the front door laying in the middle of the street. Looking at the actual shop, she noticed that Bumblebee was still tied to the post near the front and Zwei was laying on the front step. She then looked down and saw small traces of ice underneath a light dusting of snow in the appearance of a footprint.

Piecing it together, she started following the trail of ice into the forest path that seemed to have a second pair of footprints following the ice until large snow drifts covered them. It was then she noticed the second set of footprints started to drift away from the ice prints, as if the second person lost the trail.

Dismounting her horse, Blake crouched next to the last ice footprint and brushed off the top layer of snow. Looking at where the footprint was aimed, she looked up and saw a faint indent in the snow. After she ran over to the small indent, she brushed off a large amount of snow and saw a similar ice footprint. She grabbed Nightmare's reins and started walking town the path while making sure to follow the ice footprints.

Eventually, she found that the path went down a smaller side trail into the forest. Partway down the path she noticed that the ice around the footprints started to shrink. It was then she looked at the trees surrounding the path and noticed that many of them had slash marks that seemed to be relatively old until she entered a large clearing.

Partway through the clearing, Blake saw a large amount of snow had been disturbed, as if a fight occurred there including an amount of black ash that was still being blown away in the wind. Not seeing any blood anywhere, she continued to the other side of the clearing and found another path leading to the remnants of an old campsite that hadn't been used in a long time. It was at this point she noticed the only remaining tracks left behind were small trenches in the deep snow where she guessed Yang had walked through.

As she walked down the path she could see a smaller clearing up ahead that led to a cliffside. She then saw the familiar blonde kneeling in front of a large stone slab. Approaching her, Blake immediately saw surrounding her was several pieces of paper she recognized as letters from Ruby that Yang always kept on her, clenching a few in her fists.

"Go away," Yang told her in barely a whisper as soon as she heard Blake approach.

"Yang, what happened?" Blake asked, walking next to her, and seeing the mostly snow-covered stone in front of them both. "I ran into your uncle and he told me you ran off."

"Blake, just leave," she said as Blake noticed steam begin to rise off the blonde. "You don't have to be here."

The faunus took a step forward and brushed off a lot of the snow on the stone, seeing a large rose emblem she recognized as Ruby's own and below it was the name 'Summer Rose.' Turning around, she knelt in front of Yang, looking directly at her and saw tears running down the sides of her face. "No, I'm not leaving. Not until you tell me what's wrong."

Yang was silent for a while, but she slowly tilted her head up, revealing to Blake blue-bloodshot eyes causing her to lean back a bit in surprise. "Everything I know is a lie!" she shouted at her, tilting her head back down. "Today, I just found out that Uncle Qrow is Ruby's real dad. The person who I thought was my sister all my life, wasn't really my sister." Blake paused as she realized what she had just told her. "I barely even know what to think anymore. My sister is apparently my cousin, my step-mom was nothing more to me than just a stranger, and my dad has been lying to me my whole life."

Blake was silent as she watched the brawler sob while clutching the crumpled letters close to her chest. She then reached forward and pulled Yang into a tight hug. "Blake, let me go," she heard Yang tell her as she felt resistance from the blonde trying to get out of her arms, but she wouldn't let go.

"No, I'm not," she told her, gripping the blonde tighter, fighting against her strength. "I know it might not mean much coming from me, but Ruby is still your sister, even though you may not share the same blood." At that comment, she felt Yang stop resisting and eventually lean against her. "Just because you aren't related to someone, doesn't mean they can't be as important as family. I don't have any parents or relatives left, but I still have family." Leaning in further, she rested her head against Yang's shoulder and brought a hand up to stroke her hair. "You are my family, and I'm sure Ruby would say the same thing."

Yang let out a small laugh as she brought her head up to rest against Blake's shoulder before reaching forward with one arm to hug her. "You're right," she said, pulling her into a tight hug. "It's just, all this happened so fast, and I just couldn't wrap my mind around everything. Before I knew it, I found myself way out here."

"Why did our lives have to become so suddenly complicated?" Blake asked with a chuckle as she moved herself to sit down next to Yang, keeping one arm out to hug the blonde.

"I don't think our lives were ever easy," she told her, leaning over to rest her head against Blake's shoulder. "We were just living in simpler times for about a year."

"That's about as accurate of a guess we can get," she said then looked up at the gravestone while the two sat in silence. "Do you want to talk about her?"

Yang let out a small chuckle. "I've been avoiding this place for over ten years, and the first time I came back was after learning the truth about her, Qrow, and Ruby." She then sighed before looking up at the stone. "Before learning about everything, Summer Rose was my step-mother and Ruby's actual mom. She did a good job of raising both of us and we believed she was our actual mother, but I always felt that there was something off about her. Eventually, I asked her and my dad about it, and learned the truth that she wasn't my actual mother." Her head tilted downward as a forlorn expression came over her face. "I was furious, at her and my dad. I was a child at the time, so I naturally threw a fit. Hitting my dad and yelling at him. Then when Summer tried to comfort me, I told her that I hated her before running away."

"You were just a child, I'm sure she knew you didn't mean it," Blake told her as she looked over to Yang and saw tears start to run down the sides of her face.

"I'm sure she did, but that doesn't change the fact that everything was my fault," she said confusing Blake. "Apparently, both Summer and my dad thought it would be best for her to leave for a while, so I could calm down. So, she left, saying she would be gone for a few days, but a few days turned into weeks. It was then that Uncle Qrow and my dad were visited by knights from Fort Beacon that had been travelling the roads outside of Vale, bringing with them bloodied armor and a cloak from the wreckage of a cart that had been attacked, saying that they couldn't find a body."

"Yang, I'm-"

"It was all my fault," she cried, curling over slightly. "If I hadn't asked them about the truth, Summer wouldn't have left, and she would still be around."

"Yang, it wasn't your fault," Blake told her as she started to rub the crying girl's shoulder.

"No, Blake, it was my fault. I'm the one that got Summer killed," she told her. "After we heard the news, I couldn't stop crying, and Ruby took it the hardest, crying in my arms day after day. I told myself then that I was going to do everything I could as her sister to protect Ruby and make sure she would never cry like that again."

"You've done well beyond that, Yang, you even fought a powerful witch just to protect your sister," Blake said, placing a hand on the bottom of Yang's chin to raise her head up. "You _are_ Ruby's sister, no matter what blood ties you may not have."

"Thank you, Blake," she said reaching over to pull the faunus into a tight hug. "You're right, Ruby is my sister, Summer is my mother, my dad is my dad, and you are my friend. That's all the family I need."

"Nice to hear you're finally listening to me," Blake told her in a gasping breath, "a-and while I'm glad that you're happy right now, y-you're c-choking me."

"Sorry," Yang immediately said letting go of her, causing Blake to gasp for air.

"Now… if only you listened to me when we spar, you'd be a half decent swordswoman," she chuckled as the two stood up. Immediately, Blake noticed that Yang's eyes had returned to their normal shade of lilac.

"Well, maybe I will listen to you, especially over the next month or so," Yang told her while she wiped the tears from her eyes causing Blake to raise an eyebrow. "I've decided that I'm going to Atlas, and you're coming with me."

"Why would you just assume I would want to go?"

"Blake, you and I both know you would just be bored waiting here by yourself," she said with a cocky grin as she watched Blake think about it for a moment and nod while shrugging.

"Fine, but don't expect me to enjoy travelling to the northernmost continent in the middle of winter," she sighed then the two began talking towards Nightmare back at the small camp. "Anyway, we need to get your horse since you left it back at your father's workshop."

"So, let's get back to town. I need to talk with my dad and uncle anyway, and I do owe you a dinner," she said as the two mounted the black horse.

"Good, I am a little hungry," Blake said looking back at Yang. "Also, did you know your eyes can turn blue?"

"What?" she asked then raised her gauntlet up to see her reflection in the crystal.

"They're back to normal now."

"Oh," she said then lowered her hands. "Did it look strange?"

"It was a little out of the ordinary, but it was a nice shade of blue," Blake remarked then looked down slightly as a blush appeared on her face. "Though, I personally prefer the original. After all, lilac is my favorite color."

She then felt as Yang reached forward and wrapped her arms around her waist before leaning against her. "Thank you, Blake."

* * *

A single ship slowly traveled through the freezing waters, being careful to avoid the large chunks of ice floating in the water. At the bow of the ship, a figure draped in a tattered cloak resting against the railing, watching the island of Patch get closer and closer in front of the sunset. It was only after nightfall, the small ship docked on the small island and the cloaked figure walked onto the wooden docks before an antelope faunus approached them.

"Alright, so that will be thirty silvers for your trip here," the captain said to the cloaked figure as he watched them reach up and remove their hood revealing a single bull horn. "Uhh, I-I could reduce it to twenty-five for a fellow faunus."

"It doesn't matter in the end," Adam told the captain while reaching under his cloak to pull a cracked White Fang mask out and put it on. "I just hope you realize this wasn't personal." In a swift movement, a red sword stabbed into the man's chest, coating the weapon in blood. "I need the blood, unfortunately, I don't have any." The sailors on the ship behind him were about to charge Adam, but before they could, several beowolves emerged from the tree line and charged the ship.

Adam simply listened to the screams of the ship's crew were slaughtered by the grimm. Shortly after, he heard wood cracking before hearing the central mast snap and crash into the docks, smashing several smaller ships. Pulling his sword from the man's chest, he turned around and watched the beowolves leap to shore from the now sinking ship.

"Tonight, Patch burns," he said as the blood on the sword caught on fire. Immediately, the forests on the island were filled with various howls and roars from the monsters within.

* * *

 **Alright! Stuff happened! Stuffy stuff!**

 **Tai got a bit angry, I mean, his ex-wife shows up at the worst possible time and she basically ignores him. I was going to have another side-plot about Tai actually falling for Summer, but then I realized Tai is too much of a good guy to try and sleep with another man's wife. (Which also means I should go back and change Tai's first meeting with Weiss. Man, I'm retconning a bit.)**

 **Raven is as terrible as ever. Ignoring her ex after showing up randomly. I did sort of give a homage to Raven's softer side to reveal she still has the ring. Like I said in a _much_ earlier chapter, I like the idea of Raven being a bit kinder, like if I were to describe her version in this story with a word, it would be regret.**

 **Qrow is gonna to get drunk. Simple as that.**

 **Bees are buzzing, and they're migrating north (I know bees don't migrate). We get to have some character growth as well as Yang's history with Summer. There was a reason why Yang stayed at the small campsite in chapter 12.**

 **Adam is already on a murder spree, reaching 10+ kills and destroying the docks before the attack even begins.**

 **There are ten pages to the Princess and the Rose manga out. Like before, if you guys want to see them there are two ways: check out manu-chann's DeviantArt, or check my tumblr account (username: j-van-a).**

 **I'm going to sleep soon, but hopefully I can fix the last chapter tomorrow. I will for sure get it done before Wednesday.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	79. Attack on Patch

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A with the last chapter of the Patch Arc. That's right, we're going back to Whiterose after this! This actually came out two days later than I had originally hoped for, but it is basically three chapters in one. Just a fair warning, when I am posting this, I basically have only had three hours of sleep in the past 60-ish hours, so some stuff might be a bit loopy, but there have been several different versions of Van writing this chapter. Some of them are: Sleep Deprived, Tired, and Cruel. So, you know there's decent enough action. I did cut down on the actual amount I had originally intended on doing, but I didn't feel like writing a _much_ longer chapter.**

 **Reviews:**

 **bankerrtx01: Yeah, he probably has past the line into alcoholism a long time ago.**

 **k wolf omega: Yeah, Adam is a pretty big dick, especially in this chapter.**

 **KibaPT: Either he doesn't have a liver, or he does and it is blessed by the gods.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: I mean, I have _never_ used a concept from LOTR in this story, ever. Yeah, we have two somewhat depressed/mentally unstable bees flying about. I was actually going to kill off either Marcus or Carina in this chapter, but I couldn't add them in anywhere without making the story feel random, so spoilers, I guess.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

As the who girls rode on Nightmare's back down the main road, Blake noticed Yang's breathing had softened against her back. Looking back, she could see that Yang had fallen asleep while resting her chin on Blake's shoulder. Feeling a smile creep on her face, she looked back forward as they both entered the town. Nightmare immediately slowed down and looked around causing her rider to look around as well.

Blake's smile faded as could feel the uncomfortable tension in the air. The island was too quiet, as if all life had stopped for a while. Reaching over, she started to shake Yang shoulder causing the sleeping girl to slowly open her eyes.

"Blake, why did you wake me up? Did we make it to the shop?" Yang asked her as she leaned back from the faunus before looking around. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know, but this seems too quiet," Blake said as she dismounted Nightmare, shortly followed by Yang. Almost immediately, the forests were filled with the sounds of various howls and roars both girls recognized as grimm cries.

Then they both could feel the ground start to shake. Looking down the main road, they saw many figures running in their direction kicking up snow in their wake. As the stampede drew closer, Blake rested a hand on her katana's grip and Yang drew her ōdachi. Once the stampede was close enough, both girls saw that it primarily consisted of deer, foxes, the horses from the stables, wolves, and bears along with many of the bird species flying overhead.

"Get next to me!" Yang shouted, causing both Blake and Nightmare to run next to the blond. She then stabbed the ōdachi into the ground and slammed her fists together causing a yellowish light to spread over her body. The crystal halves in her gauntlets started to shine for a moment before stomping her right foot on the ground and throwing her arms back causing the barrier around herself to expand, encompassing the three of them in a yellow dome of light.

As soon as the barrier was erected, both girls watched as the stampede split itself to run around the barrier before Blake walked forward. "Something's wrong," she said looking through the barrier at the animals, now being able to hear herself due to the barrier blocking out the sound. "The wildlife would never come into town unless they were running away from something."

"And grimm don't attack animals, only people, so they shouldn't be running away from them," Yang suggested as she watched the animal stampede start to thin while she pulled her sword from the dirt. "We need to go see what happened."

"Right, but if it is some kind of natural disaster, we need to evacuate the civilians to Fort Signal."

"Ok, so let's get to the market square," she said then dissipated the barrier after seeing most of the animals had left, "we might be able to figure out what's going on and we'll be in the best place to warn… civilians…"

Blake looked over to the blonde, confused as to why she had stopped talking, only to be drawn to the unusual sight of Zwei riding on Bumblebee's saddle holding a knife in his mouth that appeared to have been used to cut the horse's reins. "Are you freaking serious?"

"Good boy," Yang told the dog as she ran over to pet him. He then turned his head slightly to sheathe his knife before letting out a happy bark. "Ok, Zwei, I need you to find dad. He's probably on his way after hearing the grimm, but bring him to the market square. Can you do that, boy?"

"Yang, he's a dog, he probably didn't understand a word-" Blake tried to say, but was immediately cut off by Zwei letting out a howl, causing Bumblebee to immediately gallop into the forest.

"He's a smart dog," Yang said giving Blake a cocky grin as she watched her horse disappear into the forest. "Now, let's go."

Yang immediately started to run, but Blake quickly mounted her horse and rode after the brawler. The two made it through the streets just as the civilians started leaving their houses to see what was going on. As the two made it to the market square, Blake had to suddenly pull back on Nightmare's reins to avoid colliding with a woman holding her daughter. Looking around, both girls could see many people of the island frantically running through the streets, many of them running down the northern road towards Fort Signal.

From the eastern road, Blake immediately saw a large group of grimm approaching on the road from the docks. "Yang!" she shouted as she pulled her bow off her back and quickly fired off an arrow that embedded itself in the closest beowolf's head, bringing the beast down in one shot. "Grimm coming from the east!"

"Right!" she called back as she slammed her fists together, creating a barrier then held the ōdachi in front of herself, placing the base of the blade in the palm of her hand. Focusing magic through her gauntlets, Yang dragged her hand partway down the length of the blade, causing golden flames to encompass the weapon. "I'll hold them off as best I can, you take them out at a distance."

Nodding in confirmation, Blake fired another arrow into the horde as Yang held her sword in both hands before charging at the grimm, running past the front of her father's workshop. The arrow managed to fly into the mouth of a beowolf before it dropped to the ground. The blonde reached the horde and swung her massive blade, cutting diagonally through the chest of an ursa before lighting it on fire with the golden flames.

Darting to the left, Yang shoulder-bashed a beowolf back before slashing at it upwards, cutting it and igniting the grimm. She then planted a foot behind her and focused magic into the blade, causing the flames to grow before shifting her weight to her back foot and twisting while swinging her sword horizontally. The ōdachi connected with the first beowolf before bisecting the grimm easily and moving onto the next grimm in its path, managing to cleanly cut through four grimm.

Once the dead grimm in her path turned to ash, Yang had barely enough time to react before a beowolf lunged at her with both claws forward while preparing to bite. Luckily, an arrow flew past her and embedded itself into the grimm's eye, killing it. She then easily sidestepped to avoid the dead grimm flying at her before looking back and seeing Blake look at her with a worried expression.

Turning her attention back to the fight, Yang was about to attack another grimm, only to have a massive claw hit her in the chest and throw her back down the street in front of the workshop. She then picked herself up and saw that a large ursa major had hit her. Gripping her hands together, she realized she had let go of her sword in the impact.

Tilting her head down, Yang could only give the grimm a smirk as her eyes turned red while clenching her fists. Slamming them together, she fixed any damage that had been done to her barrier before scraping her knuckles together, causing a gold flame to coat her fists. She then launched herself forward while cocking her right arm back.

Landing a solid punch, she could feel the bone mask break under her knuckles before igniting the grimm's head. Yang then landed in front of the ursa major and thrusted her left arm forward, punching the creature in the chest and throwing it back down the street before flames completely consumed it. It was then she noticed the golden flames on her fist died out, but before she could re-ignite them, the horde closed in on her.

Blake watched as Yang started punching any of the smaller grimm that came at her, but she could see that the brawler was slowly getting overwhelmed. She reached to her quiver for another arrow only to grasp at air. Watching a beowolf bite down on Yang's arm, she dropped her bow and grasped the hilt of her katana before running at the brawler.

Just before she reached the group of grimm, Blake focused on the attack then drew her sword, cutting through the half of the horde that managed to get behind Yang. With this new opening, she jumped over the grimm bodies and had her back facing Yang's. Then she drew her shortsword with her left hand and thrusted it into the bottom of the nearest beowolf's jaw before beheading a nearby ursa.

Yang slapped her hands together, creating two fireballs, before throwing them off to her side. Then she lunged forward breaking the last ursa's jaw and quickly punched it again, crushing the grimm's skull.

As the last grimm around them fell, both Yang and Blake saw that the grimm further back were standing still, watching them. Keeping their backs to each other, the two cautiously raised their weapons.

"Yang, we're surrounded, any ideas?" Blake asked as they started sidestepping in a clockwise circle to observe their surroundings.

"I might have something, but it'll consume a lot of my magic," she told her as she started to drag one foot on the ground before pulling the other one back at a slight angle towards the center, continually repeating this pattern while the two turned around. "You'll also need to leave the area."

"I hope you know what you're doing," she said looking at her.

"Well, to be completely honest, I don't, but let's try it anyway," Yang said with a grin as she quickly turned around and grabbed the back of Blake's chainmail collar. Pulling back on the armor, Blake's feet left the ground while Yang spun around before throwing the faunus into the air. "Now bring it!"

The grimm immediately roared before running at the brawler. Yang slammed both her fists together, revitalizing her barrier before throwing her arms off to the side, causing her barrier to from into a dome of light. She immediately opened her fists and brought her hands together with a clap, forcing the dome to increase in size to the point where it encased her and all the grimm.

Blake reached the apex of her ascent just in time to land on the top of the dome. Looking down, she watched as Yang cocked back her fist while the grimm closed in on her. In one swift movement, Yang slammed her fist in the center of the circle she had drawn, causing its lines to light up before the entire dome was filled with an explosion.

The fire raged on inside of the barrier for a short while, but after the fires died down, Blake could only see Yang in the center kneeling with both arms hanging at her side. She then noticed the barrier start to fail, so she jumped through one of the holes, landing right next to the blonde.

"Well, I think that was one of the few times your sigils actually did what it was supposed to," Blake commented after she sheathed her katana then tried to help Yang to her feet, only to pull back immediately to the heat coming off her armor.

"It was actually supposed to create a fire vortex, but it got the job done," Yang coughed while she propped herself up on one knee to try and stand. "Maybe I need to study Goodwitch's sigil book again." Managing to get to her feet, she coughed again before breathing heavily. "But now I think I'm all out of magic, so let's hope that's the last of-" She was immediately cut off by the sounds of a slow clap.

"I should have known that the grimm population on this pitiful island wasn't enough to take care of the two of you, but the damage has been done," a voice said causing both girl's blood to freeze. Looking towards the source of the voice, they saw the figure of Adam standing in the middle of the street wearing a black cloak, his hand wielding a flaming-red sword being the only extremity exposed to them. He then turned his head towards Blake, looking at her through the cracked mask while a smile crept onto his face. "Hello, my darling."

"A-Adam?" Blake managed to ask as she felt her heartbeat pound in her chest while her hands started to quiver. "But y-you died?"

"Yes, but it was only temporary," he told her as he tilted his head off to the side, revealing to her the scar around his neck. "I've been waiting for this day; to get my revenge against you and your petty little friends." Reaching his other hand out from under his cloak, he unclasped the fabric, letting it fall to the ground and expose a large red dust crystal strapped to his back. "You think you can run away from your past, Blake? Just because you played the hero once, it does not change the fact that you are a cold-blooded killer. It's about time you accept what's coming to you!" In one swift movement, he reached to his back and pulled the dust crystal from his back before throwing it at the two of them. He then watched as the crystal exploded, engulfing the area in flames, and destroying the nearby buildings, including Taiyang's workshop.

Waiting for the fires to die down, Adam smirked as he saw the flames spread from building to building. Then looking to where the crystal exploded, his smirk faded once he saw two figures standing in the middle of the fire. Once the flames died down enough, he saw both Yang and Blake standing under a dome made of flickering yellow light. Yang was holding her fists together, focusing as much magic into the barrier as she could, but it faded shortly after and the brawler collapsed.

"I figured you would have one last trick up your sleeve, but it is meaningless," he said, slowly walking forward at them. "On the day I was revived, I vowed to myself that I was going to destroy everything you loved, Blake." She instinctively took a step to the side, so she was standing between him and Yang. Adam took notice of this and smirked. "Starting with her."

"You will not touch a hair on her head!" Blake snapped as she drew her katana and charged at him. As she ran at him, images flashed through her mind of her time in the White Fang, causing the blade in her hand to tremble as she slowed down slightly. Ignoring the screams in her head and gritting her teeth, she continued to charge at him.

Just before she could strike him, Adam swung his sword, deflecting her strike prematurely and causing her to stumble back. "Getting a little rough there, Blake," he told her then spun around, catching her foot with his own, forcing her to land on the ground, "and here I was expecting more from the one I personally trained to be a killer." He then kicked her in the side, knocking her back several feet as she flinched from faces of her past victims flashing in her head. "Maybe you are just not capable of protecting the ones you care about."

"You're wrong, I-I'm not the same person I was," she told him as she tried to pick herself back up, but Adam grabbed her right wrist and wrenched the katana from her hand before kicking her in the face. Standing up, Blake reached to her belt and drew her shortsword, but he could see the weapon trembling. He then lunged forward, tilting his head down to headbutt her with his remaining horn, knocking her onto her back.

"A coward and a liar," he said walking over to where she was laying. He then crouched next to the now trembling girl. "Perhaps your parents' sacrifice all those years ago was in vain." Quickly turning her katana around in his hand, Adam stabbed the weapon into her left shoulder all the way down to the hilt.

Blake immediately started screaming as she felt the pain from her wound. Struggling against her own weapon that had her pinned, she tried to reach for the hilt with her right hand, only to have Adam step on her wrist. He then sheathed his sword before leaning down and placing a hand on the base of the hilt.

"So pitiful and weak," he said in her ear while twisting the weapon only causing her to scream more. "I can't believe I ever loved you."

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" they heard Yang shout from behind Adam. He simply stood up and drew his blood-red sword, holding it above Blake's neck. "RAAH!" she shouted as she ran at him, cocking back her right fist.

Blake looked up and saw that Adam was smirking while turning slightly. "Yang, no!" Blake shouted at her as soon as she realized what Adam was doing, but it was too late. He turned to his side and with a strike Blake couldn't even see, slammed his sword into Yang's arm.

The entire area was silent for a moment as Blake could only look at Adam's sword, cutting halfway into Yang's pauldron. She then watched as blood started flowing through the hole in the armor and onto the sword.

"Damn armor," Adam grunted as he pulled his sword free, letting Yang fall to the ground and grasp at her bleeding arm. "Either way, both of you die tonight." He then stepped away from Blake and aimed the tip of his sword at Yang's neck as she tried standing up. "Only you were a threat to me, it would seem." Before he thrust the sword into her, a black ball collided with his chest, knocking him back several feet. "What the hell!"

"Arf!" both girls heard the black ball bark as it landed on the ground. It uncurled itself and Zwei was standing in between Adam and the girls while growling at the man. He then turned his head to his side and drew the dagger strapped to his side.

"A mere dog cannot hope to stand in front of me," Adam growled at the corgi.

"That's why he's the distraction!" a voice shouted near them as the girls saw Tai launch himself off a charging Bumblebee and catch Adam's jaw with a left hook.

"What the-"

"You must be this Adam Taurus my daughter and her friend told me about," Tai said as he kicked Adam back, throwing the bull faunus to the ground. "Though, I have to say, I thought you were supposed to be dead." Watching the assassin pick himself up, Tai raised his fists, revealing to the girls he was wearing a pair of bracers and brass knuckles over fingerless chainmail gloves.

"If I have to kill such a lowly blacksmith in order to complete my goal, then so be it," Adam told him as he managed to stand up and face him, revealing that Tai managed to rip open his cheek. The blacksmith was almost proud of himself until he saw black smoke rise from the mound as it fixed itself.

"I wouldn't describe myself as 'lowly,' but if your goal is to harm my girls, then you're going to have to get through me," he told him as he started to sidestep between Adam and the girls.

"Fine then," Adam said then drew his sword to strike the man causing him to let out a sigh. "There could be no other end." As he tried to pull his sword back, Adam was confused as to why it wouldn't budge.

"Laijutsu, huh," Tai said with a smirk as he looked up at Adam. "Well, this is going to be easier than I thought."

"What?" Adam asked as he looked down his blade only to see that Tai was holding it between both his hands, mere millimeters away from his side.

"You might've caught a normal person off guard with such a technique like this," he said twisting the blade in his hands, forcing Adam to let go of the weapon before throwing it into the rubble of the workshop, "but unfortunately for you, my ex-wife also uses this fighting style, and frankly, she's better than you."

Growling in frustration at the loss of his weapon and the fact he had no blood to pull the sword back, Adam bolted into the rubble of the workshop. Tai quickly used this time to run over to Blake and grab the hilt of her katana. Before she could say anything, he pulled the weapon out, freeing her.

"Blake, I need you and Yang to get out of here," he told her as he helped her to her feet. "The way to Fort Signal is blocked off by broken buildings, so you two need to go to Qrow's farm. He's been bringing civilians there since the grimm started attacking. They destroyed a decent amount of the town before they were drawn here."

"What about you?" she asked as he helped Yang to her feet and pulled a cloth from one of his side pouches before sliding it under her armor over the wound.

"I'll stay here," he said then clicked his cheek calling Bumblebee and Nightmare over. "I can handle this revenant just fine."

"Revenant?" Yang asked before Tai picked her off the ground and placed her on Bumblebee's saddle. "Dad, what are you talking about?"

"I don't have time to explain," he said then turned around and picked up Zwei, placing him on the front of Yang's saddle. "You two need to get to safety. I'll be fine." He turned around and picked up Blake, shocking her for a moment before placing her on Nightmare's saddle. "Just go." He then looked to Zwei, who howled causing both horses to start running away.

"Dad!" Yang shouted at him, reaching back, but the horses were already making their way through the broken city towards the farm.

"It's all meaningless," Adam said from behind Tai as he exited the broken building, now holding his red sword. "As soon as I kill you, I'm going to that farm and slaughtering everyone there, including Blake and your daughter."

"I wouldn't say it's meaningless, after all, with them gone, I don't have to hold back," Tai said with a smirk as he closed his eyes for a moment. Once he opened them, Adam could see that the blacksmith's pupils were now slits in his glowing blue eyes. "You made the fatal mistake of becoming an enemy of the Xiao Long's, bearers of the Blood of the Ancients."

"What the hell are you talking abou-" Adam asked, only to be interrupted by the blacksmith bolting forward and punching him in the chest before he could react.

Tai then thrusted his left fist forward, hitting Adam in the chest and hearing several bones crack. He immediately jumped up, kneeing the revenant in the jaw with his right leg before clenching both hands together and slamming them into the top of the bull faunus's head. The blacksmith then kicked forward with his right leg, throwing Adam back several feet.

"Though, I guess it would be more commonly known in your master's circles as demon blood," Tai continued as he caught Adam's next strike with one hand before lunging forward to punch him in the chest. He then let go of the sword and used that fist to deliver a solid punch to the man's head, hearing a snap as the faunus's neck broke. "It's similar to magic in that it can strengthen the body and make it move faster, but in the end, they're two completely different things."

"It doesn't change the fact that you are going to die!" Adam shouted as his head suddenly snapped back in place. He immediately slashed at Tai's before the man could block, opening a deep wound across his chest. "You're still just a human, and I am immortal."

"Nothing is immortal, and you are not the first revenant I have fought," Tai said with a glare before throwing a right hook that connected with Adam's jaw, shattering it with that punch. The assassin immediately jumped back and held his jaw up, having the blacksmith watch as black smoke billowed from his mouth while it repaired itself. "In the end, you are just another undead, which means you have the same weaknesses. While a sword might be useful right now, I'd rather destroy your head with my two bare hands."

"I'd like to see you try," he said, bringing his arms outward, exposing his entire front side to the man.

Tai then jumped forward, but halfway through the jump, he noticed Adam had shifted his weight onto his right foot to spin around and slash at his head. He tried to twist his body to dodge the strike, but ultimately, couldn't do it in time. He then closed his eyes, waiting for the attack to connect with him, but a heard a slight ringing before the sound of metal crashing against metal. After he landed, Tai opened his eyes and saw Raven standing in the middle of the road with her sword raised in the air and Adam stumbling back from the attack with his sword flying back into the market square.

"Who the hell are you?" Adam growled at Raven as he regained his balance.

"I'm the ex-wife," he told him as she removed her grimm mask, letting it drop to the ground.

"Damn it," he growled under his breath. Looking around, he spotted his sword embedded into the ground behind him and a pool of Blake's blood, now partially soaked into the dirt. He then turned back and saw both Tai and Raven preparing to attack him.

"You may pride yourself on your ability to kill, but you are a mere child compared to those with real power," she told him, stepping forward. "You can either fight and die, or run and survive. It is your choice."

Weighing his options, Adam ran. As he passed Blake's blood, he reached down to run his hand over it. Then he made it to the market square and pulled the weapon free before running Blake's blood over it. The sword began to glow for a moment, causing the two to raise their weapons in case he decided to fight. Suddenly a nevermore landed in the middle of the square and screeched at them before the faunus jumped on it. Then the grimm launched its feathers at the two, missing them with every shot, before it flew off the ground.

Both Tai and Raven watched in silence as the nevermore flew over the bay between Patch and Vale. Shortly after it was halfway over, Raven smirked as she cut a portal in the air, causing the nevermore's head to burst through, surprising Tai. She then snapped her fingers, forcing the portal closed, leaving the nevermore's head on the ground in front of them. He immediately looked back at the sky and watched as the headless nevermore and its rider crashed into the ocean.

"You know that won't stop a revenant, right?" Tai asked her while the nevermore's head turned to ash.

"Of course, I do, but it will slow him down," she said then sheathed her sword. "With any luck, he'll lose that demon artifact in the ocean."

"So, why did you come back?" he asked her as the two turned to each other. "I thought you would've left me alone after this morning."

"I couldn't just leave," she said reaching up to scratch the back of her head and look up. "Originally, I was going to stay and wait for Qrow's answer, but something else kept me here."

"Right," he said then sighed as he brought his hand up to the open wound in his chest. "I'm sorry, about earlier today."

"Why? You had every right to be mad," she told him as she picked up a nearby discarded cloak and handed it to him. "I did leave you and Yang."

"Yes, but I also knew you had some reason for leaving us, be it your duty to your tribe, or you were just not ready to be a mother," he said, pressing the cloth into his wound, "but I also had a feeling you were watching us all those years."

"I don't know why you would think that," she told him, which only caused the blacksmith to raise an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"Fine, if you're denying it, it must be true," he said, wrapping the cloth around his chest. Raven then looked off to the side, avoiding Tai's gaze. "Either way, can you open a portal to Qrow's farm? We should probably make sure our daughter is okay. Her armor saved her arm, but that doesn't change the fact it was nearly cut off."

" _Our_ daughter?" she asked, watching Tai walk forward.

"Yes, _our_ daughter," he said then turned back, seeing Raven look back at him in shock. "Come on, I'll walk there if I have to."

Raven turned around and picked up her grimm mask before putting it on. As soon as her face was covered, she could feel a smile form on her face. Flicking her hand, she heard the ringing sound of her portal open behind her. Once she turned back around, her eyes were drawn to the ruined workshop before looking to her ex-husband. "Tai, go on ahead, I have… something to do," she said confusing the man. "I'm also probably the last person our daughter wants to see right now."

"You do have a point," he said to her, "but promise you'll visit me at least once before you go. Your armor is long overdue for repairs."

"Sure, Tai," she said watching him go through the portal before she closed it. Letting out a sigh, she walked over to the destroyed workshop and began moving rubble.

* * *

Blake suddenly shot up in her bed, remembering the events of last night, but immediately cringed as she felt the pain flair up in her shoulder.

"You probably shouldn't get up so suddenly," she heard Yang say from her doorway. Looking over, she saw that Yang had her right arm in a sling wrapped in bandages.

"Yang, are you alr-"

"Honestly, you took the worse wound, and you're worried about me," she said shaking her head. "I'm fine. The wound on my arm was pretty deep, and it did cut down to my bone, but it's not severed. If only I didn't use that explosion sigil, my armor wouldn't have been heated and the sword would've bounced right off." She then walked over to the faunus's bed and sat down near her. "How are you feeling?"

"My shoulder still hurts," Blake told her, looking away from the blonde, "and I can't seem to move my left arm as well as I could, but that can be expected from shoulder wounds that stab all the way through."

"You know that's not what I'm asking about," Yang said to her with a sigh, causing the faunus's hand to tremble slightly. "You normally would've at least put up a fight against Adam, and I know it was a bit of a shock to see him again, but you were easily beaten." Blake unconsciously pulled her knees closer to herself, which Yang immediately noticed. "So, do you want to tell me what's going on?"

"I-I-" she barely managed to say before letting out a frustrated groan. "I don't know if I can do this anymore." Yang looked up at her with a concerned look on her face. "I've told you before about my nightmares, but every time I change the topic to avoid talking about it further. I can't keep this charade up anymore." She looked up at Yang, feeling tears start to form up in her eyes. "Every time I am alone, I am haunted by the actions of my past. I remember the face of every person I've killed, and their screams keep me up a night. I cannot even hold my sword without running the risk of memories flashing in my head, and seeing Adam again only made them worse." Blake then reached over and held Yang's hand. "I can't fully explain why, but the only thing that helps me keep these memories at bay, is you. So, when I heard Adam threaten your life, my mind went racing, to the point where I remembered the things I had done."

"Well, I guess that makes sense for why you would lose to him," Yang said then squeezed Blake's hand. "I know you don't like talking about your past, but if it you ever want to, I will always be here to listen. I care about you, as a friend and as a member of my family."

"Thank you, Yang," she said squeezing her hand tighter as a smile formed on her face. "Also, you can have the dog stop hiding. I know you had him follow you in here."

"Was I that obvious?" Yang asked as she clicked her cheek causing Zwei to walk out from under Blake's bed.

Blake then reached down, causing Yang to close her eyes and raise her good arm in case she threw Zwei at her, but was surprised by the lack of impact. When she opened her eyes, she saw Blake petting Zwei, causing the dog to pant with a smile on his face. "You deserve this for saving our lives," Blake said to him, getting a bark in response, "but this is a special occasion, so don't think this makes us friends."

"Arf!" Zwei barked then licked her hand.

She immediately pulled her hand back and let out what Yang could only assume was a hiss. The brawler then started to laugh, which caused Blake to look at her with a glare before chuckling softly to herself. "Anyway, do you think you're able to walk?" Yang asked her. "Dad is in my forge right now and I wanted to go check up on him since the townsfolk Qrow brought here finally left."

"I think I'll be fine," she replied as she shifted herself so her feet were touching the floor. "Yeah, I'll be fine, just don't expect me to carry anything."

* * *

Tai was sitting on a small chair next to Yang's grindstone, sharpening one of Qrow's dull farming scythes while Qrow himself was sitting on the other side of the room, nursing his hangover from the night previous. As soon as the doors to the barn opened, both men's attention was drawn towards the noise, seeing Yang and Blake walk into the building with Zwei following behind."It's nice to see you two up and about," Tai said as he and Qrow watched Yang and Blake walk over to them. "Though, I think you two should be resting."

"Their injuries were to their arms, not their legs," Qrow said then dry-heaved before turning around to a bucket he kept by his feet. After a brief moment, he turned around and continued like nothing happened, "They're tough girls and I've seen them walk around after taking hits worse than that."

"Really?" Blake asked him, raising an eyebrow before looking over to her shoulder.

"Ok, you might not have taken a hit that bad when I was with you and the others, but you know what I mean," he said then leaned back in his chair. "Either way, Yang, I think we need to have a talk. Right, Tai?"

"Yeah, I guess we should," he replied with a sigh before turning towards her.

"Uncle Qrow, dad, we really don't have to," Yang interjected while raising her left hand. "I was a bit mad yesterday, but I do understand why you kept it a secret from me and Ruby."

"That was fast," Qrow remarked as he raised an eyebrow at her. "I thought it would take you a lot longer to get over this."

"Oh, I'm not over it, but I do understand your reasonings," she told them. "My problems with this are my own, and there is nothing you two can say that will instantly make this better. I know you two had the best intentions, so I'm not blaming you." She then turned to Blake and got a nod from her. "Which is why we're going to be leaving Patch for a while."

"What?" Tai asked her, standing up. "But you're injured."

"Which is why we aren't going to be travelling on the roads," Blake interjected.

"We're going to the city of Vale, then we're going to board a ship to Atlas," Yang continued, looking at her father. "I want to see Ruby again, so I'm going, whether you want me to or not."

"Well, funny thing is," Qrow interjected, taking a letter out from the inside of his shirt. "A courier came by today to deliver this letter from Ruby."

"What?" she asked, running over to him, and taking the letter before opening it. "Her chainmail is too small for her?"

"Which is why you wanting to go to Atlas is very convenient," Tai said with a sigh before reaching over to his side and lifted up a burlap sack. "This is enchanted chainmail, and I was going to either send it with a courier or find another way to send it up north, but since you're planning on going there anyway…"

"Alright, we'll take it with us," Yang said as she walked over to him to take the bag away, only to have him pull back. "What now?"

"I do have one condition, though," he said confusing her. "One day. Just stay for one more day. The only ships coming to and leaving the island are ones helping repair the town, and couriers to keep communication going between our island and the kingdom. I can probably arrange for someone to bring you two to Vale, but the earliest would probably be tomorrow. So, I want you two to take this time to rest."

Both the girls looked at each other before turning to the man. "Fine, the sooner we can leave for Atlas, the better," Yang said to him a she and Blake turned around.

"Also, we can use this time to pack," Blake suggested to her.

"Right, I did not think about that. We should probably also repair our-"

"I already fixed your armor," Tai interjected, getting confused glances from them. "What? I am considered a really good blacksmith for a reason."

* * *

Later that night, Blake and Yang both had already fallen asleep in the farm house, and Qrow had made his way to the tavern since it had miraculously survived the attack. Tai was sitting in the makeshift forge in Qrow's barn since his was destroyed.

As he was sharpening one of the farming scythes, he heard the slight ringing sound followed by a breeze he knew came from Raven's portals. Turning around, he saw his ex-wife standing in front of him, holding the various pieces of her armor in front of her, but was still wearing her chainmail suit and regular clothes.

"You actually came?" he asked her as she walked over to the table nearest him and placed the armor down.

"You said you were going to do repairs," she said, sitting down on a nearby chair. She then looked to the side for a moment before pulling out her ōdachi. "Also, I've noticed that my sword isn't cutting as well as it used to."

"Alright, but you know I can't hold your sword," he told her has he picked up the first piece of armor and began to inspect it. "I don't want to be attacked by whatever kind of magic you learned over the past eighteen years."

"Right," she said, picking up a whetstone and began sharpening her weapon while Tai heated up the forge to make repairs to her armor.

After a short while of sitting in an uncomfortable silence, Tai opened his mouth. "She has your strength, you know."

"I think you and I both know she got her strength from you," Raven told him as she looked up at him.

"That's not what I meant," he said as he moved onto another piece of armor. "While she can be a bit stubborn, her direct approach and the way she gives her all to whatever she sets her mind to often reminds me of a certain someone."

"I know, I've seen her do it before," she told him, putting down the whetstone after her sword was sharpened. "I think you knew I was lying before, when I denied watching you two." She didn't have to look up at him to know that he had a smirk on his face once he realized he was right. "I wouldn't travel here often, but I made an effort to return once a year to see if you both were doing fine. In the beginning, I seriously did think about leaving the tribe, but after the first few years, I realized my presence would only cause the two of you problems. So, I dismissed the thought."

"That's not true," he said turning around to look at her as he finished the last piece of armor, placing the hot metal into the water trough. "I would've been the happiest man in the world if you came back."

"Of course, you would say that," she said under her breath before looking up at him. "What's done is done, and I cannot change that."

"You could stay," he suggested, looking off to the side.

"Tai, I am the leader of my tribe, I can't simply leave," she told him, walking over to him and retrieving her armor before drying it and putting it on.

"You seem to be away from them right now," he said, causing her to clench her fists.

"I don't expect you to understand why, but I can't abandon them," she said turning around. "If things were different, I might consider staying, but if I don't return, the tribe will die."

"I… I understand," Tai sighed as he sat down on. "I just hope you know that if your situation does change. I won't turn you away."

"I know," she said reaching into one of her side pouches. Then she pulled out a small bag and placed it on the table next to him. "Tai, please take care of yourself." Flicking her hand upwards, a black and red portal opened in the air next to her.

"I don't think I need to worry about staying safe as much as you," Tai said as he watched her walk though the portal before it close behind her. Reaching over to the table and picking up the small bag. Opening it, he saw the gold wedding ring he left in the workshop the other day before the attack. "So, she went through the wreckage for this." Looking to where the portal was, Tai raised his left hand and slowly slid the ring back on his finger.

* * *

Adam slowly walked out of the ocean, carrying his sword as he walked down the coast of Vale in the middle of the day. After walking down the main road, he came across a familiar camp where he saw Cinder sitting on a log next to the fire, warming her hands.

"I heard there was a commotion on Patch last night," she said as Adam walked over to the fire and sat down, "but what I did not hear was of the island's destruction."

"There were complications-" he said only to be cut off by her clenching her fist. Adam tensed up as he felt massive pains in his chest while smoke slowly started to rise from his body. He was about to shout in pain, but he could feel his jaw tighten each time he tried to open it.

"I don't appreciate failures, Taurus," she told him as she clenched her fist tighter causing the man to grunt in pain. "You have been my servant for over a year, but on your first real mission on your own, you fail." Releasing her grip, Cinder let out a sigh before looking at the fire. "Though, this excursion was not fruitless. I learned that the relic is indeed here in Vale, but the only problem is that it is secured somewhere in Fort Beacon."

"We can't charge in that fortress-" he said, but before he could say another word, Cinder clenched her fist again.

"I know we don't have the manpower to take on Fort Beacon. We would also need time to prepare for a full-on assault. That is why we need an army," she said with a smirk before looking at him. "So, I have a new mission for you."

* * *

 **Well, there you have it. We had the first chapter of the attack where the heroes fight off the army of monsters, the second chapter where they get their asses handed to them and the adults save them, and the third chapter being the wrap up. Like I said, three chapters in one.**

 **Yang can do some fancy magic. It's relatively simple, I had some Ruby-exposition about how Yang has mastered her barrier magic, so to show that I had her do some cool stuff with it. Then there's the sigils. It's a bit of a throwback to when Glynda was travelling with the group, but she could also use sigil magic, and she also trained Yang.**

 **Blake's ptsd, or whatever it is classified as (I am not a healthcare professional, so I'll probably get it wrong). Yeah, there's a reason why she hasn't killed anyone since the siege, yet is able to spar with Yang. Of course Adam showing up was a bit of a shocker.**

 **Moving onto the bastard, he's a bit brutal. I mean, he literally pinned Blake to the ground with her own sword and told her that her parents died for nothing. Then he tries to cut off Yang's arm (good thing she was wearing ARMOR).**

 **Yeah, I'm not going to have Yang's arm be cut off like in the show. While it worked in the show, it wouldn't work in Princess and the rose since like I've said before, there are no super advanced prosthetics.**

 **Probably the most difficult part to write was interactions between Tai and Raven. So I'm sorry if they came across as unnatural. Basically, I see them as two people who grew apart and want to be close again, but they just don't know how to do that. Also, the fact that Raven has to be a bandit tribe leader doesn't help.**

 **Now then, let's move onto the MVP of the battle: Zwei!**

 **Yes, without him, the leading ladies of this arc would surely have died. He cut Bumblebee's reins, got Tai, brought him to the girls, and was used as a distraction to give Tai enough time to save them. He even got pets from Blake because of this. Now his character arc is complete for this section of the story.**

 **Now Blake and Yang just need to hitch a ride on a boat and head north. So, instead of doing twenty chapters of them on a boat, I'll just tell you this: nothing significant happens. They are on a boat while being injured, so no battles are going to happen, there isn't going to be much character growth, and I just want to get them to Atlas.**

 **Alright, my sleep deprivation is finally starting to get to me, so I should probably leave soon and get some rest before I get to work on the next chapter because I need to get back on my schedule. Seriously, I have to continue with the two chapters a week deal for a while to get to the point I want to be at for the fourth.**

 **So, have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	80. A Trip to School

**(New Update Van: I'm back from my long hiatus, so the first thing I wanted to do was fix this arc. I friggin HATED this arc. I completely rushed it and there were too many plotholes. I believe I fixed things, but it's still not that great of an arc. Though there are some new ideas people should probably find out.)**

* * *

 **Hello everyone, I am J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. We're finally back with WhiteRose! This chapter took so long to write considering I wrote this one the day after I posted the last one. At least I got done what I wanted to accomplish.**

 **(Update Van: Hi, there's no real edit to this chapter, but I want to make a sort of announcement because I feel the need to. This arc is not really my favorite one. It has its moments, but it has a LOT of exposition and very little fights.)**

 **Reviews (side note, fanfictionnnet has been weird with the reviews, so there's a chance I haven't seen a review. I know of four right now.):**

 **YangTSW: I'm sort of going with the show. Summer was never really confirmed dead, but it's highly suspected (unless there's new news about her fate). So if she's alive in the show, she'll be alive in the story. Until then, she's considered gone, which leaves possibility.**

 **Yakosh: I'm also still operating under the version of Raven from chapter 53 where she's a bit more caring. Also, your letter to Adam made my day.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: I was extremely tired. 60+ hours awake and 3 hours sleep makes for a very tired Van. It is cliche, but I'm using the version of Raven from chapter 53, so she's a bit more emotional and regretful. The only thing I really spoiled was that the white Fang deserters survived. In all honesty, Marcus was going to be stabbed through the chest and Carina was going to get several slashes on her back while protecting Patrick, but she was going to live.**

 **k wolf omega: Zwei is best character, and NO! Bad k wolf! Go sit in the Corner of Shame for that pun!**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Weiss smiled at Ruby as they sat together next to the fire at their campsite wrapped in the red chainmail cloak. Slowly, the sun started to rise over the horizon, signaling to the two to prepare for the day of riding. Quickly getting out from the younger girl's cloak, Weiss watched as Ruby shivered slightly before adjusting the fur-lined leather coat under her breastplate then pulled her cloak around herself.

Weiss couldn't help but smile before turning slightly. "What?" Ruby asked, catching the princess's smirk as she moved to be in front of her.

"Nothing, nothing," Weiss replied as she tried to turn away from her, only to be reminded of the girl's unnatural speed. "It's just interesting how sensitive you are to the cold."

"Hey, everyone is sensitive to the old," she defended herself before turning slightly in an attempt to hide her red cheeks. "My chainmail suit doesn't fit anymore, so I have to deal with the cold like everyone else. You still have the same armor from a year ago."

At that comment, Weiss froze, failing to come up with a response, managing to only sputter out various noises before letting out a groan. "It's not my fault I stopped growing. It was only natural you would continue to do so," she said turning around and walking away only to come face to face with Ruby.

"Yes, I did keep growing, and while it may be a problem concerning my armor," Ruby said wrapping an arm around the princess's waist before tilting her head down to rest her forehead on Weiss's and smirked, "I am the taller one."

Weiss immediately scowled at the younger girl then stomped on the ground. Ruby was about to pull back, but it was too late as her feet were encased in thick layers of ice, immobilizing them. "At least I'm not the fast one who can't run," she said stepping back and started walking towards the three other tents. "Now then, we should probably get ready to leave."

"Weiss, let me go," Ruby said to the princess, watching her walk near the other tents. "This is really cold."

"Then you should've thought of that before you made that stupid little joke." She then hit the front flaps of the first two tents, waking up the occupants.

Ruby immediately pulled her cloak around herself, covering up the ice with the fabric-like metal just as Logan and Erdin exited their tents. The dragonslayer slowly walked of his tent, still wearing his armor as if he slept in it. The spearman exited his tent shortly after, making sure his fur coat was on properly before using his spear to break the thin layer of ice that formed around their tent overnight. Weiss was about to knock on Mercury's tent, but the kickboxer exited before she could, wearing all his travel gear and fully awake.

"Alright, so," Erdin announced to the group before looking north and squinting, "we have about half a day's ride ahead of us before we reach the college, maybe less if the roads aren't bad."

"Good, the sooner we get to an actual building, the better," Logan grunted as he reached back into his tent before pulling out a lightly armored coat. "I'd like to spend as little time in dragon territory as I can. They can sense my magic miles away."

"Dragon territory?" Ruby asked him then looked over to where she and Weiss were sitting before, seeing Crescent Rose laying just out of reach.

"Yeah, they seem to like mountains for some reason," he answered then pulled on a metal helmet with horns on each side that curved inward. "We should be fine though, since the area around the magic college doesn't have dragons due to certain barriers. Even then, the area near the college is green dragon territory, so they're not hostile unless you attack them. There have been sightings of red dragons in this region though."

"There are different colors of dragons?" Weiss asked then watched Ruby try to reach for her scythe as the guys' backs were turned.

"Yes, there are many different colors of dragons, which correlate in what kind of breath attacks they use," Logan said as he turned around, causing Ruby to quickly pull her arm back under her cloak and make sure the ice was covered. "Though the only ones that really use different attacks are white and purple dragons, using ice and lightning, respectively. The other dragons all use fire, with the green ones being the weakest and the red ones the strongest. Long story short, the dragons we really need to worry about are the red, white, and purple ones. The other ones would certainly be a problem, but all of us could handle one. Though, two or more dragons will certainly be a problem."

"You seem to know a lot about dragons, despite never seeing one," Mercury said to the man while taking down his tent. "How are we to know that your information is accurate?"

"Ultimately, you don't, but I have spent my entire life training to defeat those beasts, so I think I would've picked up a book here and there," Logan said to the grey-haired man.

Mercury turned to him with a look of surprise. "You can read? And here I thought you were just another one of those knights with a sword for a brain."

"Oh, that is it!" Logan shouted as he drew his flaming longsword before Erin placed the wooden end of his spear against his friend's chest.

"How about we all calm down, hmm?" Erdin asked, looking between the two men. "Everyone gets grumpy in the morning, but remember, we're all on the same side."

"Whatever," the dragonslayer said, sheathing his weapon before he kicked the anchoring spikes for his tent out, causing the entire structure to collapse. "Just remember, pretty boy, that you'll be damn glad I'm around when a dragon shows up. They're a thousand times deadlier than any undead you may have fought to get your job."

"I'd like to see you fight five hundred undead by yourself."

"I'm ready any day of the week you just _happen_ to come across another undead army," Logan told him as he rolled up the tent and started walking towards the horses.

"Your name will the be first one I shout for if I do," he said, neatly tying the tent bundle together, walking toward the horses. "That is, if I don't happen to kill them all first."

"Why do those two have to keep bickering?" Weiss muttered while she pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's a new thing every morning for the past month and a half."

"That's what happens when you get two people with conflicting personalities together; either they become friends, or they hate each other with a fiery passion," Erdin told her then looked between her and Ruby. "It's a good thing the two of you became friends, otherwise I would have to listen to four party members constantly bickering with each other."

"Oh, we still bicker," Ruby interjected, looking over to her girlfriend. "We just tend to not hold on to that anger for a long period of time, right?" Weiss sighed then nodded as she snapped her fingers confusing the spearman. "Thank you, I was starting to lose feeling in my toes." She then started walking towards the horses, revealing to Erdin the small layer of frost still coating the knight's boots. "Now then, let's get riding."

* * *

The group of five rode throughout the day, making sure to stay on the snow-covered road through the dense forest. Shortly after midday, the group stopped where the forest had ended. In the distance they could see a mountain range behind a bare open plane. As they rode their horses into the open plane, they immediately felt high winds, nearly causing them to fall off their horses. After adjusting to the sudden winds, the five continued down the road towards the mountains.

During the ride, Logan kept his hand on his flaming longsword's hilt while watching the skies. Erdin looked to the skies, but paid more attention to the weather, noticing what appeared to be a blizzard only surrounding the mountain they were headed toward. Mercury stayed in the middle of the group, making sure to keep pace with the others, but ultimately seemed bored. Ruby and Weiss were leading the group, having the princess ride slightly behind her girlfriend while they all traveled down the empty road.

By the time they neared the blizzard, the sun was already beginning to set. The first thing they noticed was that the blizzard seemed unnatural in that the speeds of the wind didn't seem to increase and that the actual storm seemed to act as a sort of barrier. Logan cautiously rode his horse into the storm, only to be immediately thrown off the animal.

"I guess this is where we walk," Erdin said as everyone watched Logan struggle to get up and eventually exit the blizzard with a thick layer of snow on his helmet. They then turned to the spearman confused before he pulled out the map. "Our destination is at the base of that mountain. So, we're going to have to pass through that storm one way or another."

"Any idea how long we're going to have to walk through that storm?" Weiss asked while she and the others dismounted their horses.

"I honestly am not sure, but judging by the rest of the mountain range, we have maybe one to two miles ahead of us."

"Ok, so that isn't too bad," Ruby said as she grabbed Chestnut's reins and turned to the others.

"Red, it's a mile in a blizzard. Your special cloak might protect you from the extreme cold for a while, but not even you could survive an extended trip in there," Mercury told her while pulling a scarf from his saddlebag and wrapping it around his head. "And it's probably a magic one at that, so we don't know everything about this kind of storm."

"Well, since there's nothing we can do, it's best just to jump right in," Logan said pulling his shield off his back and grabbed his horse's reins. Then he pulled a long rope from his horse's saddlebags before tying it to his mount. "We'll use this so we don't lose each other in the blizzard." After he finished tying the knot, he tossed the rope over to Mercury before raising his shield up against the wind and started walking into the blizzard.

Mercury grumbled to himself as the tied the rope to his horse and tossed it back to the others. "I swear, if he gets us killed…" he muttered while he walked into the blizzard only to have the last portion of his sentence be cut off.

Weiss tied the rope to Snowflake before handing it to Ruby to be tied to Chestnut. Then they waited for a moment so Erdin could tie his horse before the three of them walked in.

Immediately, Ruby and Weiss were almost knocked back by the wind. Even their horses had some trouble initially, but they slowly turned their bodies to brace against the high winds and continued forward at their riders' pace. Eventually, Weiss had to focus her magic around herself to create a magic barrier, which managed to block out the wind for a short time, but after a while the barrier shattered.

It seemed like hours as the group made their way through the high winds. The frontrunners of the group started to slow down, so everyone was at least within eyesight. Suddenly, the air around them stopped, leaving a circle of small air thirty meters in diameter. The group then watched as the snow in the air slowly fell to the ground, while outside of their circle the blizzard raged on.

"Logan, what did you do?" Erdin asked the dragonslayer only to get a shrug in response.

"I don't know, but trust me, if I used my magic, there would be no blizzard," he said looking around the area while drawing his sword. "Also, I'd probably be staggering."

"Everyone, get close," Ruby announced to the group while drawing Crescent Rose from her back. "I don't like this."

"Tell me about it," Mercury said as he looked down to his boots, seeing that they were now glowing a faint blue. "I apparently absorbed some of the magic power from that blizzard, but I know my boots couldn't cause this."

"So, this blizzard was magic, which means whatever caused this area to be cleared must also be magic," Erdin concluded before turning to Logan. "Don't you have a spell that can detect life?"

"It's a bit more useful that that, but yes," Logan told him before taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. "Laas, yah NIR!" His words only sounded like a whisper to the others, but they could see a faint black mist to form around his eyes. Once he opened them, the others couldn't see his signature glowing green eyes. He then turned his head around before pointing down the path. "There's someone there."

"Princess, get behind us," Erdin told her as he and the rest of the guys moved in front of Ruby and Weiss.

"Red, be sure to watch the back and provide cover fire," Mercury said then shot his left leg forward, firing off a blast of cold air and snow where Logan was pointing. "Did I get him."

"He disappeared," Logan remarked as he squinted his eyes and looked around. He turned completely around and pointed behind Weiss and Ruby. "He's back there."

As soon as the two girls turned around, a figure suddenly appeared above them, seemingly aiming itself at Weiss. Ruby immediately swung the back end of her scythe's haft at the figure, but as soon as she felt it make contact, the figure disappeared.

"What the hell!? He disappeared again!" Logan shouted while looking around just as the black mist around his eyes faded.

The five tried looking around the area of calm air, only to see nothing. Suddenly, as they turned back to each other, they saw a figure standing in between all of them. It then let out a single laugh before spinning around, slamming everyone in the chest and knocking them back. Once the five turned to see what had just attacked them, they could only remain motionless in surprise.

Standing in the middle of the snow was something that appeared to be a man, but nothing like a person altogether. The man seemed to be eight feet tall and was wearing tattered pants and was tall with incredibly thin arms as if he was just skin and bones with leathery pale skin stretched across his whole body. He had long black hair that covered most of his face except for his open mouth that showed what appeared to be left his yellow teeth after all of them were sharpened into fangs. His mouth seemed to be unnaturally large as if it had been stretched across his entire face, with several tears around the edges that had scarred.

"What the fuck is that!?" Logan shouted as he picked himself up, but the figure suddenly disappeared from the center of the group and reappeared behind the green-eyed man.

The gangly man then reached down and grabbed the back of Logan's chestplate and picked him off the ground with ease, raising the dragonslayer's head to his own. The others then watched as the gangly man's mouth slowly opened further, causing Ruby and Weiss to pull back in fear as the man's mouth opened unnaturally wide, to the point that his mouth was half the size of Logan's face. He then let out a shrieking roar directly in his face.

"You seriously call that shouting," Logan said, reaching up to wipe some spit off his face. "I'll show you some shouting! Fus, ro DAH!" Before the blast of blue energy could hit the gangly man, he disappeared, causing the dragonslayer to fall to the ground.

Then the gangly man reappeared and grabbed Logan by the neck, picking him off the ground while knocking his helmet off his head. In one swift movement, his mouth reopened and shot his head forward, biting down on the man's face and covering his eyes and nose. The others could only watch as Logan fell limp and blood started to run down his face as a blue light began to flow from his head and into the gangly man's.

"Drop him now!" Mercury shouted as he jumped off the ground and shot his right foot forward, sending a blast of cold air and ice at the gangly man. This time, however, the gangly man didn't disappear and was hit by the full blast, knocking him into the blizzard and having Logan land on the ground.

Logan suddenly opened his eyes and gasped before looking at the gangly man. "Seriously, what the hell is that thing?!" they heard him shout as he picked himself up, revealing to the others the bite marks across his face. "It felt like it was absorbing my magic."

"Kind of like your boots, Mercury," Ruby said as everyone started moving closer to each other.

"Sort of, but my boots don't bite, and I didn't see that thing shooting the magic back at-" Mercury said only to have his attention be drawn to the blizzard.

"DAH!" they heard a voice shout before a blast of red energy crashed into Mercury, throwing him back.

"Ok, so it's a lot like my boots," he muttered while jumping off the ground.

Ruby then turned to Logan. "I don't think you should use any more of your magic," she said as Weiss placed a hand over his head, letting her healing magic close his wounds. "If that thing is using your magic, it might only know a few words to trigger certain spells that you used already."

"Right, and anyway, it absorbed a bit too much of my magic, so I couldn't shout without passing out," he replied, feeling the pain go away. Then he turned to the group. "So, how can we defeat this thing?"

"I don't know if we can," Erdin said looking around the area. "This thing seems to be able to teleport, and it's strong enough to pick up Logan."

"We could try running for the college," Mercury suggested. "If we follow this path, we'll make it there."

"That won't work, like I said before, teleportation," Erdin told him. "We also don't know how far the college we are."

"He only seemed to be vulnerable when he bit down on Logan," Ruby interjected as she saw a brief glimpse of the gangly man in the blizzard before disappearing. "Mercury hit him while he was biting down on Logan. That's why he's not attacking us now, because we're together."

"That's also why his first attack was to separate us," Weiss added as she looked around the area, seeing the horses still tied together. "He's also not attacking the animals, so it shows that he's intelligent enough differentiate between targets."

"So, we just have to stick together," Erdin concluded.

"Except, you forgot that he can use my magic," Logan interjected, "and if he is as smart as you say he is, he'll realize he can separate us using that."

"Hey, Logan, you said before you could clear this storm with your magic, right?" Mercury asked, looking over to him. "Do you think you can use that to reveal where the college is."

"Yes, but I'll be knocked out from using that spell," he said, looking at him unamused.

"Well, if you do that, then Red can shoot a bolt at the building with a note asking for help," he told him while looking for the gangly man. "As far as I can tell, it's our best shot."

"Fine, but you realize as soon as I do this, that thing is probably going to attack us?" Ruby immediately secured her scythe to her back before drawing her crossbow and a thin strip of paper.

"We'll be one man short, but I think we'll be able to hold out long enough," Erdin told him, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Do it."

"Alright, Ruby, you have your crossbow?" Logan asked her.

"Yes, just give me a second," she told him, wrapping the strip of paper tightly around the crossbow bolt. "Now, I'm ready."

Logan took a deep breath, looking at them for a second, then opened his mouth. "Lok, vah KOOR!" A blast of blue energy shot out from the man and into the air. As soon as it collided with the blizzard, the storm slowly dissipated as Logan's eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed.

The group of four then looked around the area and saw what they could only assume was the college a short way down the path. The structure was massive that had a large central building with a series of spires built on the sides of the central building and a single massive spire built where the structure met the side of the mountain. They then noticed a large central wooden door just at the top of a somewhat long staircase. Ruby immediately fired off her crossbow, hitting the wooden door, forcing it open.

It was then that the group saw the gangly man standing at the bottom of the steps looking at them through his thick hair. Suddenly, the man's torso twisted around so his back was facing the group before his torso twisted again, facing the group once more as a smile crept on his face. He then launched himself at the group, staring at them while his legs spun around, generating a small blizzard behind him as he flew towards them.

Weiss stabbed the ground with her rapier, causing a dome of light to form around the group just before the gangly man reached them. He immediately crashed into the barrier, forcing everyone to hear as his bones popped before flying over the dome of magic and crashing into the snow behind them.

"That was… strangely effective. Nice job, princess," Mercury said as they all turned to look at the gangly man.

"Do you think he died?" Weiss asked, raising an eyebrow at the man in the snow.

"I don't think he has the same anatomy as a normal human," Erdin commented. "You saw how he turned his whole torso around, so I'm thinking he's a bit more durable than the average person."

"Well, I was just trying to be hopeful," Weiss sighed as they heard cracking come from outside of the barrier.

When they looked at the source of the noise, they could see the gangly man attempting to stand up. His right leg seemed bent upwards sideways while his left was completely turned around. The man's left arm was dislocated and wrapped around his torso, trapping his right arm. Then the man's head was still facing them, but it was hanging completely upside down and loose.

They then watched as the man gave them a wide smile before his body began jerking violently. The legs fixed themselves and his left arms jerked itself into place. Then he reached up with both hands and reset his head with a loud pop.

"Magic…" they heard the gangly man speak, his voice scratchy as drool fell out of his mouth. He then launched himself at the barrier, this time stopping before colliding with it and bit down on the dome.

The group watched as the man's teeth penetrated the dome before he managed to rip a large chunk off. Then they watched as he began to eat the magical barrier he was holding in his mouth, causing a soft white light to spread over his body. Before he could disappear, Weiss fired off an icicle at the gangly man that shattered against his barrier but caused it to flicker for a moment before fading. She then flicked her hand to the side, dissipating her own dome barrier before he could eat any more of it.

The gangly man let out a low growl before disappearing. The group frantically looked around for the man but couldn't find any sign of him anywhere. Feeling a strange pain in her stomach, Ruby quickly grabbed Weiss's wrist before pulling her back while throwing her own body to where her girlfriend was previously.

Suddenly, the gangly man appeared behind Ruby and wrapped his legs around her waist and his hands clenched around her throat. He then opened his jaw before biting down on the back of Ruby's head.

"GAAH!" Ruby shouted in pain as she felt his teeth sink into her scalp while falling to her knees. The pain then increased while her vision began to blur. While she could not see what was happening, the others saw as a silver light began to flow out of Ruby's eyes and directly into the gangly man's mouth.

"No!" Weiss shouted as she fired off an icicle that struck the gangly man's shoulder, forcing him off her.

The force from the attack threw the man back several feet and into the snow, but the gangly man stood up while reaching up to his shoulder and removing the icicle, letting the others see blood flow from his wound. "Yes… yes… pure magic," the gangly man said then launched himself at Ruby but was suddenly thrown into the ground by a large fireball.

The group looked at where the fireball came from and saw a man falling from the college before he landed on the ground in between them and the gangly man. The man was tall and had messy dark-green hair that seemed to have been blown back. He was wearing a pair of large circular glasses, a long brown coat and had a series of books strapped to his belt. In his hand he was holding what appeared to be a staff, but the top third seemed thicker, as if it was meant to be used as a club.

"Hello, children," the man greeted them as he spun his staff around in his hands before slamming the back end on the ground causing a small flame to appear at the top of the thick end. "It would probably be best for the five of you to head towards the college now, lest you think you can handle this little problem we have."

The gangly man let out a roar at the new person in front of him before launching himself at the man. The green-haired man simply sidestepped before tapping the bottom end of his staff against the ground and once the gangly man reached that point, a dome of green fire appeared around the man before a thin barrier dome formed around it.

"That should hold him still for a bit, unless young Grant learned how to teleport through barriers," he said with a chuckle then turned to the others, causing his smile to fade. "What are you still doing here?"

"We're trying to move, but some of us can't exactly move right now," Erdin said as he tried to pick up Logan only to struggle against his weight.

"Time is of the essence," he said then tapped Logan's chestplate with his staff causing him to float. "Now make sure to hold onto him, otherwise your friend is going to wake up in the sky."

"Ruby, can you stand?" Weiss asked her as she held her hands over Ruby's head and healed the bite marks while Mercury grabbed Logan's horse's reins and began leading the rest of them to the college, following Logan and Erdin.

"I can stand, but my vision is a bit blurry," Ruby said while picking herself up.

"Just put your arm around my shoulders," she told her grabbing Ruby's arm then the two began making their way to the large staircase.

As soon as their feet touched the stone stairs, the green-haired mage looked up and shouted, "Bring up the barrier now!"

Weiss then turned around and watched as a light started to rise from the ground. Then the light slowly git higher before curving inwards, covering the entire magic college in a magic barrier. She immediately turned to their rescuer and asked, "Who are you, and what was that?"

"Miss Schnee, my name is Bartholomew Oobleck, a travelling scribe," he said as he began walking up the stairs using his staff as a walking stick before turning back to look at the gangly man, "and that, my dear, was a blood mage."

* * *

Shortly after reaching the main building, Ruby's vision had returned fully, and she was walking around on her own. Erdin had taken Logan to the college's medical wing while Mercury brought the horses to the stables.

Inside the main building, both Ruby and Weiss entered a brightly lit hall where several mages of various ages had gathered. Weiss's attention was drawn towards a tall old man that had long grey hair and a beard, and he was holding a long wooden staff with a white crystal at the end that was wrapped by the wood.

"Hello, Princess Schnee, I am the Arch-Mage Gregor of this college," the old man greeted her as he walked over. "We're terribly sorry about the incident outside, but unfortunately, one of our students was practicing blood magic and went insane roughly a month ago. We lost too many good teachers to him and I'm glad your party arrived safely."

"It's all right," Weiss said then looked over to Ruby, who was rubbing her head. "We were hurt, but it was nothing that I couldn't heal."

"Then that's good to hear," Gregor said then turned to Oobleck. "Mister Oobleck, were you able to restrain the blood mage?"

"Yes, but," he paused as he raised a finger in the air, "he just broke out of my containment magic. I'll return to my research and hopefully I can develop a strong enough spell to hold him."

"Very well, the entire library is at your disposal," he said causing Oobleck smile before the old man sighed, "except the second floor." The green-haired man's smile faded before he nodded and ran down the side hall. The old man then turned to the other mages that had gathered in the hall. "Now then, I believe that you all have studies to attend to." Immediately, the hall was cleared leaving Weiss, Ruby, and the old man in the room. He then turned to Weiss and smiled. "Now then, young princess, I hear you have quite the aptitude for spellcasting."

"Umm, yes, Court Wizard Samuel thinks highly of my skill," Weiss answered him. "I even formed a bond with a Spirit of Knowledge before leaving the capital."

"A Spirit of Knowledge and a natural spellcaster?" Gregor asked then laughed. "Well then, you will do wonderfully during your stay here." He then turned to Ruby and looked her over. "You must be Ruby Rose, the princess's personal guard."

"Y-yes," Ruby answered brought her hand down from her head.

"You have silver eyes, a rather unusual trait," he remarked as he raised an eyebrow at her. Then he stepped back and turned around, gesturing for them to follow. "Well then, allow me to show the two of you to your quarters."

As they followed the old man, Ruby's eyes were drawn upwards to a small balcony where a girl with short slightly curly orange hair and bright green eyes was watching her. She only looked up at the girl for a second before blinking, but once she opened her eyes again, the girl disappeared.

* * *

Mercury grunted as he put the last horse saddle on the shelf of its stable. Stretching his back, his attention was suddenly drawn towards the building's floor which was covered in large spiders. Instinctively kicking at the first spider, he was surprised as his foot past through it, causing the creature to disappear.

Crossing his arms in front of himself and raising an eyebrow, he smirked before turning around saying, "Hello, Emerald. What did I say about messing with my head?" In the doorway, his vision blurred for a second, but once it returned to normal, he saw a familiar girl with green hair and red eyes wearing a green robe and fur boots standing in front of him. "And the outfit's a little different from the last time I saw you."

"As if I'd wear that outfit in this damn place," she answered him before crossing her arms in front of herself. "It's nice to see you too."

"So, where are the others?"

* * *

 **Man, I've been using a bit too much from Skyrim, I kind of feel like I should put up a** **disclaimer.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Skyrim except a copy of Skyrim SE that I play a LOT. Logan is based on Dovahkiin, so I'll be using shouts in chapters where he appears.**

 **Now then, WhiteRose is back! I've been waiting so long to do this, but I needed to get the Bumbleby story done. It's not like I didn't enjoy writing it, but it did honestly feel a little rushed.**

 **We get our first experience with blood magic. It always involves blood in some way or another, like with gangly man. I provided a lot of clues as to how his works, but just in case. He needs to drink the blood of a mage to absorb their magic, and for a limited amount of time, he can use their magic. He's just plain creepy and can't really be beaten my impacts. He also has the innate ability to consume magic barriers, and I know there's going to be someone bringing up the barrier around the college. The barrier around the college is much stronger and was done by multiple mages.**

 **Oobleck is here! He's one of my favorite characters from the show and I did reference him earlier in this story with Jaune.**

 **Emerald is also here, and I did mention in an earlier chapter whom she is with. Now, the real question is:** **why is she here?**

 **Last thing. Just who was the mysterious girl on the balcony? You guys know who it was, I'm just pretty tired right now.**

 **So, I didn't really have the time to have my fingers recover from writing after the last chapter, so yeah, my left hand is really starting to hurt. I'm probably just going to leave this AN here.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	81. Making New Friends and Meeting Old Ones

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. Man, I really need to get better on using my time wisely. I had originally planned on posting this earlier this week on Wednesday, but school kinda forced me to put off my writing until the weekend. So, this chapter isn't as good as it would have been because it was kinda rushed, but I got my point across.**

 **Reviews**

 **Rapter267: Yeah, and I was playing a lot of Skrim at the time. Now I'm playing Witcher 3, so that might have some influence on my writing in the near future.**

 **FeartheKnown: Well, in this AU, silver eyes are just a lot of magic power, so absorbing the magic just means that he absorbed the magic. I think I've mentioned time and time again that Ruby isn't a mage.**

 **Yakosh: No, it was pretty damn soon. My fingers were killing me. Also, you'll see.**

 **StarWarsLover1998: You'll see.**

 **k wolf omega: Ok, that one was a little... RUFF. Ha! Temporarily make him stronger, he only nibbled on her, so the magic boost is temporary. Realistically, by the time this chapter starts, he's already lost the boost.**

 **robyork1690: I know it was terrible. Thanks for the heads up. I was trying to go for vague, but it only came off as confusing.**

 **Xyander64: Cool history lesson, she's still keeping her arm. I wouldn't exactly say greybeards. Gregor was actually based off of Gandalf if you want a reference whenever he speaks. Ruby isn't going through magical training, she's not a mage, she just holds magic power in her eyes.**

 **Bubba009: I honestly have been diverting from the humor, so I might go back to that after I reach a certain point. Basically after all the drama. I agree she was a cool character, but Pyrrha's death was kinda fitting. She also is an Amazon, and Cap is one of my favorite superheroes, but Spider-Man takes the top spot.**

 **GFK Fan: You are exactly right. I was wondering if someone would've made the connection between Carol and Yondu.**

 **Silverwolf2015: Thanks, though I don't think you'll see this response anytime soon. The actual main reason this fic is so long is basically because I have been using this story as a way to improve my writing, and now it has pretty much grown into a much larger thing than I had originally intended, but it's still fun to do. I just know there are some people who look at long fics and ignore them.**

 **RedShirt1453: I will be completely honest, that was an accident. After checking out what you were talking about, I laughed for a couple minutes at the fact that I left Jaune out of Weiss introducing everyone to Jacques, and I seriously considered keeping it as it was, but I changed it.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Chestnut~" Ruby sang as she skipped into the stables on her own. She made her way over to her horse, seeing the mare eating some hay. Then she walked forward into the horse's stable to pet Chestnut's neck. "I thought you might still have been spooked by the attack from earlier, but I guess I was wrong." The horse simply turned her head to Ruby and huffed at her, blowing the girl's bangs back for a second. "Yeah, what was I thinking? You are never spooked by anything." Chestnut suddenly began to squeal while rearing back, surprising Ruby while knocking her back.

As she watched her horse backing up in the stable, her attention was suddenly drawn towards the entrance where the girl she saw earlier was standing perfectly still, looking at her and Chestnut. The girl was roughly her age and was wearing a white blouse and a grey skirt along with black boots that went to her knees. It was then that Ruby could see that the girl's eyes were cloudy with no pupils and glowing green. She thought the girl was blind for a moment, but as soon as she moved, the girl's eyes immediately followed her movements.

"Salutations," the girl greeted her while Ruby stood up. Leaning in, causing Chestnut to freak out more, she ignored the horse and continued. "Do people always talk so familiarly with horses, despite knowing they cannot talk back?"

Ignoring the girl for now, Ruby turned to Chestnut and held out her hands. "Hey, hey, it's all right," Ruby told her as she tried calming the horse down. "It's just another person." She then turned to the girl. "I'm so sorry, she's never like this." Chestnut started to calm down, so she slowly led the horse to the back of the stall before walking over to the strange girl. "I'm sorry about that, she's typically friendly towards people." She then noticed that the girl was looking her over, causing Ruby to back up slightly. "So, uhh… who are you?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," the girl said, standing up straight, "my name is… well… I have been called Penny. Yes, that's right, Penny Polendina. It's nice to meet you."

"Umm, yeah, it's nice to meet you too," Ruby said as she reached out her hand towards Penny. She then leaned forward and inspected her hand, causing Ruby to raise her eyebrow. "It's a friendly greeting, you're supposed to shake my hand."

"Friendly greeting?" Penny asked as she stood back up to look at Ruby. "Something friends do when they greet each other. Does this mean we are friends?"

"Well, we've only just met," she mumbled looking off to the side, but when she looked back, Penny's face was inches from her own. The orange-haired girl kept looking her over, then her attention was drawn towards Ruby's eyes, causing the knight to back up slightly. "I-I mean, yes, sure, we are friends."

"Oh, okay," she said taking a step back then shaking Ruby's hand with both her own. "It has been a long time since I had a friend, the concept is still rather foreign to me." She shook her hand for a while before stopping, still holding the knight's hand. "What is it that friends do?"

"Well… I guess I haven't really had a proper friend in a long time." Ruby reached her free hand up to scratch the back of her head while trying to pull her other hand free. "Weiss and I are friends, and we… well, we spend a lot of time together," she said with a slightly chuckle trying to explain her relationship with Weiss while leaving out their personal lives. "We've been friends for a long time, and we support and protect each other."

Penny then raised an eyebrow while looking directly at Ruby. She suddenly felt a slight pain pass through her head before the orange-haired girl looked away. "I understand now," Penny said, taking a step back while letting go of her hand. Suddenly, a small circle appeared on her hand, causing her to look at it. "I would seem that I am needed back at the college. Goodbye, friend."

"Goodbye," Ruby told her as she watched Penny's feet lift off the ground before leaving the building. After she was alone again, she looked back over to Chestnut. "That was a little strange." The horse simply huffed at her before tilting her head back down to the pile of hay.

* * *

"-and this is your own practice area," Arch-Mage Gregor said to Weiss as he opened the door to a large open room. "Even though you surpassed many of our students' skills in such a short time, there is always room for improvement." He then walked forward, leading her into the empty room before waving his hand, causing various candles in the room to ignite. "Also, from what I understand, your summoning magic could use a lot of work."

"You know about the Schnee family magic? I thought that was supposed to be secret?" Weiss asked him, causing the old man to laugh.

"Miss Schnee, I have been around for a long time; I've seen many things, learned secrets of the world, and met with ghosts from a time long since passed," he told her then leaned against his staff before looking her in the eyes. "I also trained your sister, so that helped me learn of your family's summoning magic and how it works. Though, I doubt you have your sister's endurance magic."

"No, no I do not, but she prefers to fight up front with her swords instead of casting," she muttered to herself, looking off to the side. "I've been improving on my summoning, but all I'm able to do is create an arm and a sword."

"Well, that's because you are summoning the incorrect way," Gregor told her while walking toward the center of the room. "When you usually summon, you tend to be in a fight, which distracts the mind. The typical summoner needs to know the name of their creature and the accompanying magic requirements for it. When they summon the creature, their magic is then restricted due to a large portion of their mana pool being used to sustain their summon. That is why summoners tend to move to the back of the battle and use supporting magic, but your summoning is different."

"What are you talking about? Samuel said that was the most effective way to go about summoning."

"That is because he didn't know how your summoning fundamentally worked," he said, flicking his hand up, causing a chair to materialize under him as he sat down. "Instead of summoning creatures that exist in a different realm, you create the creatures using your own magic as long as you had killed the original beforehand. The more magic you put into a summon, the more powerful the creature can be, though it does have its limits. Then, once your creature is summoned, it can exist on its own for a period of time, allowing you to regain your magic."

"So then why can't I cast healing magic while my summoned arm is around?"

"Your summon must be complete before it can exist on its own. That arm you are able to summon, still draws from your own personal magic pool, but as soon as you're able to create the entire creature, you'll be able to cast any kind of magic you want," he explained to her as she rested her hand under her chin, thinking about what he was saying. "You must remember as much as you can of the creature you killed and meditate on that. Once the creature has been burned into your memory, you will be able to summon it in its entirety. After practicing in summoning whole creatures, you can eventually apply that knowledge to actual combat situations."

"So, you're just saying that I need to practice?" Weiss asked him as he stood up and made the chair disappear.

"Essentially, but you need to practice in an effective way," he told her while he started heading towards the exit. "It is beginning to get late, so I would advise you to return to your quarters. While you are staying here, I suggest utilizing the library to its fullest; there are plenty of book written about the use of magic, though, I'm sure _that_ library only you have access to has plenty of knowledge stored there." He then chuckled as he watched her become confused at his statement for a moment before realizing he was talking about Knowledge's domain. "Also, feel free to consult with any of the remaining teachers on questions you might have. Spirits are very intelligent beings, but they don't know everything, even if their names say otherwise."

"You seem to know a lot about spirits and I know you're obviously a powerful mage, and one can raise their magic power through forming bonds with spirits. I hope you don't mind me asking, but how many bonds do you have with spirits?" Weiss asked him before the man left the room, causing him to turn around and raise his eyebrow.

"Oh, you are a sharp one Miss Schnee," he said with a short laugh. "It took your sister two weeks before she asked me that simple question, and I had been dropping hints constantly." Pausing for a moment, he smirked before looking directly into her eyes. "You have only formed a single bond with a spirit, so you will soon come to realize how difficult it will be to form another one and understand what it means when I tell you I have bonds with fifteen different spirits."

"I think I understand," she told him as she started walking towards the door, "I studied under the Court Mage of Vale for a short time, and she told me she had five bonds."

"Ahh, yes, young Glynda," he said with a smile while they both started walking down the stairs. "She studied here for a time, but unfortunately, her talents were more useful elsewhere. If I recall correctly, she also knew our travelling scribe back in those days."

"Just what is a scribe?" she then asked him once they reached a floor in the main building. "I've heard plenty of different titles being given out to different mages, but I've never been told just what they mean."

"That is something I believe is best for you to ask the scribe yourself," he told her once he began walking towards a separate set of stairs that led to his quarters. "Now then, Miss Schnee, I bid you goodnight."

Before she could even respond, he seemed to disappear in an instant, leaving her alone on an empty floor. Looking around for a moment, she made her way back the main stairs and started walking down to the main hall.

* * *

Shortly after Ruby entered the main hall, her attention was drawn toward the statues scattered around the room. In between the main pillars, she could see four statues made of granite and the figures seemed to have been draped in heavy cloaks that didn't allow for their faces to be seen. Each figure was holding a similar long sword that was roughly her height and at the top of each sword's hilt was a different colored crystal. On the left the statues had red and yellow, and on the right the crystals were blue and green, each of the four glowing with a strange energy.

After looking around the empty main hall for a while, her attention was drawn towards the sound of footsteps coming from the nearby stairwell. Once she turned to face the noise, she saw Weiss enter the room and look at her, causing a smile to form on both girls' faces, but before she ran over to her girlfriend, they both heard another set of footsteps approach them.

When they looked towards the noise, they both immediately saw Logan and Erdin walking into the main hall. "So, the four of us are back together," Erdin said as both of them walked towards the girls. "Has anyone seen Mercury anywhere? He seems to have disappeared after bringing our horses to the stables."

"I don't really know, he wasn't at the stables when I was there earlier," Ruby told them. "Though, it's not unlike him to suddenly disappear for a while. Since we're in a pretty defensive building, he might just assume there's no need to constantly be together."

"I guess that makes sense, but that also begs another question: just how long are we planning on staying here?" Logan asked the group as he reached up to scratch the side of his face where everyone saw a faint bite scar. "The king and the court wizard came up with this idea after the assassination attempt to hide the princess, but it has already been a month and a half. Atlas's Spymaster is known to have taken out threats to the crown in half the time."

"That is a good question," Weiss said as she got everyone's attention. "From what I can understand, I'm at a much higher level than most of the students here. I don't think there is much that the teachers here can tell me that I don't already know, and even then, I have a bond with a Spirit of Knowledge. I think we only realistically have to stay for a few weeks."

"We could use the time to recover and resupply for the trip back, but then again there is the problem of the blood mage outside," Erdin said, remembering the events from earlier that day. "Logan and I could take that time to prepare for dealing with that mage. It won't be easy, but maybe we can convince some of the other mages to help us."

"Alright then, you two get to work on that," Ruby told them, getting a confirmatory nod from the men. "I will stay with Weiss and protect her while we're here."

"And what about the other one?" Logan asked, reminding them of Mercury's absence.

"He'll get some kind of a job, but you both know how he is," she said getting a shrug and a nod back in response. "It's probably best we handle the important parts so they actually get done."

"Right then, we'll start in the morning," Erdin said then bowed to both girls. "Goodnight, Princess Schnee and Miss Rose."

"Goodnight," Ruby responded, "make sure to keep an eye out for Mercury. He should know that your quarters are where he's supposed to stay as well."

"We'll keep an eye out for him," Logan told her as he and Erdin disappeared up a separate staircase to the men's quarters.

"So," Weiss said looking around to make sure she and Ruby were alone before walking over to the younger girl, reaching down to hold her hand, "we finally get to spend some time alone together."

"So it would seem," Ruby told her with a smirk. "I guess we should also go to our room and get some sleep."

"I know, it will be so nice to finally get some sleep on a real bed," she sighed. "I can barely even remember the last time I slept on a bed."

"But you will complain about it," Ruby smirked, looking at her girlfriend, only to see her scowl and immediately jump back before the ground was frozen. "Hey!"

"Come on, let's get moving," Weiss muttered. "At the moment, I'd rather fall asleep regularly than due to magic exhaustion."

"Then stop trying to freeze my feet to the ground!"

* * *

"So, where are you taking me?" Mercury asked Emerald as she led him down a stone hallway underneath the college and into the mountain the structure was built onto. "I have to return to my group before they get suspicious."

"Well, this just happens to be a bit more serious than you returning to your new friends," she responded while they turned a corner to continue down another hall.

"They are not my friends," he told her as they slowed down and she began tapping on the walls to their right. "The spearman and dragonslayer are annoying. The princess and the brat constantly talk to each other and giggle like children, thinking that I don't see them. I still don't understand why I was put in charge of protecting them."

"It's all part of Cinder's plan, just have faith in that it will all turn out. Keep your cover and continue working towards your goal," Emerald said as her hand knocked on the wall, causing it to immediately shatter like glass before disappearing. Mercury then looked into the hole in the wall, seeing a large storeroom filled with magic weapons and artifacts that were all coated in thick layers of spiderwebs. At the sight of the webbing, he felt a chill run down his spine as his face paled, which Emerald immediately noticed. "Don't worry, we killed all the spiders in here… at least I think we did. They were the size of small dogs when we entered this place."

"You're not helping," he snapped at her. Feeling his heart begin to race, Mercury quickly stepped away from the web-covered portion of the room over to the area lit by various candles.

"Oh, quit your crying, they're just spiders," a new voice said from in the room. Looking toward the source of the familiar voice, Mercury saw the distinct figure of Roman Torchwick walking out from behind a rack of magic weapons. "We've been living in this room for over six months now, and we have not once been bit by a spider."

"Ok, that makes me feel a bit better," Mercury said with a sigh of relief. He began to look around the room, only to see that there was no door to it. "Now, just what exactly is this room?"

"It's a storeroom that was used by the college at once time, but they apparently sealed it off and it sat alone for maybe a hundred or so years before we happened on it," Roman answered him. "After all, I'm not a mage, and I couldn't exactly stay on the regular grounds on my own while the other two worked. Which reminds me," he turned around and faced an area behind one of the walls in the room, "Neo, be a dear and hide the entrance for me."

From the back of the room, emerged a girl much shorter than Mercury. From past experiences, he expected to see a girl with pink, white, and brown hair, only to be surprised once he saw her hair was black and tied in twin tails. He noticed that her eyes were a solid green and didn't change as she blinked. She then snapped her fingers, causing the hole in the wall to fill with an illusion of brick as if nothing had happened.

"As far as we can tell, nobody alive at the college has knowledge of this storeroom. So, just to be sure, Neo and I removed any records of this room from the building," Emerald told him. "A few of the teachers initially were suspicious of us, but they were also the first ones that died."

"Alright, so we have a secret hideout that nobody knows about. Now, what was so important that you dragged me down here?" Mercury asked them, getting somewhat frustrated.

"You already know," she said, walking over to a nearby table and picking up an old looking book. "Open this up and tell me what it is."

Taking the book, he opened it up and began flipping through the pages before looking up. "This is just a book about blood magic," he told her then suddenly realized what she was getting at. "You didn't, right?"

"No, we did," Roman answered him. "Well, it wasn't supposed to go down like it did, but we created that blood mage with a magic tome similar to the one you're holding." Mercury looked down at the book before immediately closing it and dropping it on the ground. "Relax, non-mages can read that book just fine. It's a real page turner, you'd probably enjoy it, there are plenty of pictures to keep you entertained."

"So, now I think you understand our problem," Emerald said to him, taking a few steps forward. "We need to come up with a plan to fix it."

* * *

 **So, remember in Mercury's first meeting with Ruby when he said he was scared of spiders? I wasn't lying.**

 **Anyway, we got Penny, Neo, Roman, and a bunch of exposition this chapter. I was going to have it go a different direction, but I figured this was for the best.**

 **Penny! She's strange... I don't really know where I was going with that. There are a few hints you can probably gleam off of what is wrong with her, and I mean, I haven't exactly been quiet about planning her introduction since the early chapters. If you know a decent amount about Dragon Age, then you would probably know exactly what Penny is.**

 **Weiss's magic gets explained, well, her summoning magic. She's able to summon a creature using her magic, then they exist on their own for a period of time. Then while they exist, she can control them, but she doesn't have to constantly be feeding them magic, allowing her to regain magic and cast powerful spells.**

 **Statues in the main hall, probs important, or maybe I'm just going back to the writing style of uselessly including details to take up space.**

 **Neo's back, and basically has the volume 3 disguise, except not the skirt. Yeah, she's not going to be wearing something like that in the climate they're in.**

 **Roman... well, he's going to have some fun, or maybe not. He's kinda trapped in the ancient magic storeroom.**

 **Anyway, moving onto the last thing, they created Grant... or at least gave him the blood magic using the magic tome. If you guys remember, the magic tomes teach the reader a new form of magic. Though, this form of blood magic made him insane.**

 **I'm pretty tired, and I have homework to do. Hopefully, I can post another chapter on Wednesday.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	82. Plans Revealed and Studying at Library

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. I forgot to add in the last chapter where Ruby introduced herself to Penny, so I fixed it. Now there isn't a potential plot hole when Penny meets Ruby again and shouts "Ruby!"**

 **One other thing. I do know that on Reddit the writers of RWBY confirmed that Qrow is not Ruby's dad. I personally liked that theory, but it's not going to happen. Though, that doesn't mean I'm going to change this AU to fit that. It's an AU for a reason, and the whole plot point of Ruby being Qrow's daughter is a pretty major thing that has been building for a long time, so I'm not changing it.**

 **Reviews**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: To be completely honest, I have a general idea for what Cinder's plan is, so when I actually do something with it, it may appear rough at times. You can be assured that he does not like the situation at all.**

 **FeartheKnown: It's fine, though the magic in her eyes are going to be important. I wouldn't say up and running, more like here... there's a bit of a difference when her backstory is revealed.**

 **Yakosh: It's 12 am when I'm writing this, and I have to up at 6 AM. I'm really tempted to not do an AN.**

 **Xyander64: Since this isn't a smut fic, you can let your imagination run wild about their night. You actually brought up some good points, so I did address some of those in this chapter with the basically self-aware Mercury. Penny is always going to be awkward, especially when she's going to meet up with Ruby again.**

 **Silverwolf2015: I'm sure Ruby killing people would be interesting, but she's not going to be doing that. She has a code about not killing. So, I'm sorry, but you won't be getting a killing Ruby for a long time, if at all.**

 **Guest: I did know and I addressed it above. I'm not changing my story though.**

 **Commandant Luna: It's always interesting when a new reader joins the story. I don't know if you should thank the other versions of Van, Cruel Van tends to beat up Ruby. His next death involves destroying his head, which is the only way to kill a Revenant, so yeah, it will be pretty painful. Fights have always been my strong suit, and I think I have been doing better with the fluff. Sorry if by the time you read this the story is getting into a bit of a lull.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"You're idiots," Mercury told them, picking up the magic tome as he walked over to a nearby table and leaned against it. "Honestly, what were you thinking?" Looking up at the others, he set the tome down before crossing his arms in front of himself. "You used a magic tome to trick someone into learning blood magic, not factoring in how he might go crazy and attack anyone. Did you even bother to learn that he had teleportation magic?"

"We didn't know he had teleportation magic. Around the college, he was known as a skilled wind mage, which is why we thought he was harmless," Emerald nearly snapped at him, walking in close and glaring at him. "The plan was to trick him into reading the grimoire and then detain him for the experiment. Cinder was very explicit about our mission here."

"And just what was your mission before you royally screwed up?" he asked her, remaining stoic despite the daggers she was glaring at him. "From what I can tell you created a blood mage just for the hell of it."

"Our mission was to find a way to find a secret tome and to find a way to increase a mage's magic power in order to make them a suitable candidate for the ritual," she told him, backing up a few feet before walking to a nearby desk and sitting down. "We were supposed to keep him down here and bring other mages for him to feed on, but it didn't end up that way. Though, in the end, he managed to eat most of what qualified as combat teachers here, so he absorbed a decent amount of magic power."

"'What qualified as combat teachers'?"

"You didn't know? This place didn't have any proper combat teachers," Roman interrupted them, causing both teenagers to look at him. "There was a reason we came to this school; because of the magic persecution in Atlas, this place is seen as a sort of sanctuary, so that means most of them are pacifists. So, it was easy to get into this place, just have Emerald and Neo show up with a sob story about them running away from a torch-bearing mob, I hide in their carriage, and we're in. Then they hid me for a few days before we found this room."

"Why are you even here in the first place? You aren't a mage, so your presence here is completely worthless."

"Someone needed to handle the magic tomes when we brought them here," he explained with a shrug. "If these two held onto the books, they'd more than likely read them."

"Look, we need to deal with the blood mage," Emerald interjected before Mercury could ask another question. "He's incredibly dangerous, and whether you like it or not, he's your problem now too. So, do you have any ideas on this situation?"

"Well… just give me a moment," he muttered as he rubbed his chin. "Do any of these magic weapons work?"

Neo simply walked over to a nearby weapon rack and picked up a staff before holding it in front of herself. The end of the staff then started to light up before sparking, but just as the weapon became bright, the end shattered forcing her to drop it. She then looked up at Mercury and shrugged before dropping the non-magical stick.

"So that's a no," he said then pinched the bridge of his nose. "Torchwick, please tell me you at least have those slave collars, so we can de-power the insane powerful blood mage?"

"Magic tools like that would have been detected immediately," he told him. "We barely managed to sneak in the magic tomes, only being able to convince the guards to let us through by having them in a secret compartment in a box underneath regular magic tomes." Neo walked over and tugged on Torchwick's sleeve. He looked at her and watched as she grabbed a piece of string, making it into a loop before tossing it onto the nearby table. She then blinked out of existence before appearing next to the table, picking up the string then teleporting next to him. "Ok, so we might be able to teleport to Vale and retrieve a couple of collars."

"But you can't teleport through barriers," Emerald interjected. "It's impossible to walk through it."

"Well, about that," he said then turned to Neo, "do you want to show them." The short girl scowled at him before puffing out her cheeks. He immediately backed up slightly, holding his hands in front of himself. "Hey, I can't produce a barrier."

After looking at the two's confused glances, Neo sighed before picking up her parasol. Twisting the hilt, she pulled out the thin sword before holding it in front of herself. Holding her other hand out, she produced a glowing pink and white barrier over her hand. Taking a deep breath, she brought her glowing hand against the blade's edge and pulled upward quickly. Then she removed her hand showing them a small bleeding wound in her palm underneath what appeared to be a cut in her barrier.

"Y-your sword can cut through a person's barrier?" Emerald asked her, taking a couple steps back from the short girl. "That would have been nice to know a long time ago."

"Ok, so you're going to cut through the barrier and leave for a bit. Teleport to Vale, get the collars and come back," Mercury deduced as he looked at her. Neo immediately shook her head before picking up the string. Reaching over, she grabbed Roman's hand before placing the string in his palm, causing the man to pull it back from her blood dripping onto his hand. "You need him to go with you?"

She nodded as the older man pulled a small rag from his pocket and wiped off the blood. "The dispelling enchantment on those collars normally wouldn't affect her unless she was wearing them," Roman answered him, "but multiple collars would increase the enchantment's effect causing her to probably teleport in the middle of the ocean. So, she can't be holding any of them. Since I'm not a mage, there are no side effects if I carry them."

"So, now our problem is to actually put the collars on that blood mage," he said then rubbed his temples for a moment. "I have nothing right now. Maybe the people I came here with will have a plan." Nodding at his own comment, Mercury turned around and began walking towards the exit.

"That might be a good idea, and while you do that, Neo and I can continue to work our mental magic on the Arch-Mage when Neo isn't in Vale," Emerald said causing the kickboxer to suddenly stop before turning back around to her.

"You're doing what!" he shouted at her. "The _Arch-Mage_? You're trying to mind control the Arch-Mage?"

"Mind control isn't an accurate description, if I had to describe it, I'd say we are simply influencing his mind."

"That's not helping!"

"We need to infiltrate the second floor of the library for the other part of our mission here. The place has heavily fortified enchantments to keep intruders out, but once you're up there, it requires little work to enter restricted sections," she explained to him only causing the man to get more frustrated. "We were trying to influence some of the other teachers into giving us access, but they died from the blood mage's attacks. So, as much as I would not like this, we must influence the Arch-Mage. Since he's the most powerful mage here, both Neo and I have to use our magic on him simultaneously to even have a slight effect since he has impressive mental barriers. So, it may end up being a thought in the back of his head, but eventually, he will give someone access to the second floor, and we will use our chance."

"Oh, this is going to end terribly, I can already tell," he told her as he pinched the bridge of his nose before sighing. "Look, I will get to work on trying to find a way to fight the blood mage. You three, get those collars and don't get caught by the man who could probably disintegrate you with a thought. I have to get back." As he walked towards the exit, Mercury caught a glimpse of Neo raising her hand. "No, no, don't even think about it-" Before he could stop her, the next thing he knew, he was standing alone in the middle of the main hall. Grasping a nearby column, trying to avoid vomiting on the ground, Mercury took a deep breath. "I really hate teleportation," he grunted as he looked around the area for a moment then walked over to the stairwell leading to the men's quarters.

* * *

The next morning, Ruby and Weiss walked through the college's library, carrying several books to their table in the central aisle of the library where sparse groups of students were sitting around various tables talking in hushed whispers. While Weiss was primarily focused on reaching the table, Ruby couldn't help but notice the worried expressions on the students' faces and faded bite marks on a couple of them.

"They must be so scared," Ruby remarked as she followed her girlfriend through the aisles of the library, only now noticing how massive the room was.

"Hmm?" Weiss asked looking over to Ruby and seeing where the girl was looking. "Yes, I can imagine. The blood mage was indeed scary, and with the students here not well versed in combat like us, they certainly would have been terrified from that experience."

"I hope we can help them," she said, looking ahead as Weiss sat down at a table in the middle of the aisle of the bookshelves. Walking forward, she set down her books and sat across from the princess.

"I do too, but for now I need to focus on improving my summons and reading these books."

"Right, and why do you need to read all these books?" Ruby asked her while pulling various books from the pile in front of her. " _The Effects of Fire Breath Potion on the Human Throat,_ and _The Arachne Language of Old_. How does this help your summoning magic?"

"Well, it doesn't. Knowledge told me in my sleep last night that there are several books here at the college she doesn't have in her domain. Since she seeks to know just about everything, part of the terms of our spirit bond is that I have to read books she doesn't have, giving her the knowledge of the books," Weiss explained while skimming through the book. She quickly looked up at Ruby, revealing that her eyes were glowing before looking back down. "Probably the best part of this is that I don't have to read these books as intently as before. Though, if I want to remember most of the details, I'll have to re-read the book back in the Fade."

"So, you don't absorb the knowledge, you're just transferring it to your spirit friend," she said leaning back in her chair.

"Yes, but I don't think I want to know about the slight variations of unicorns, which have been extinct for at least five-hundred years," she explained to her then closed the book after finishing it. "Either way, the books I actually want to read, I will, but since Knowledge wants to know what's in these books, I'll read them." Opening the next book, she began to quickly flip through the pages. "This should only take an hour before I can work on my summoning."

"Right, and what should I do while you're reading?"

"You can open a book," Weiss said, gesturing to the pile in front of them then to the rest of the library. "I'm sure that with the vast library here, you can find something to read."

"Alright then, just don't go anywhere," Ruby told her while standing up and walking away. Looking back for a brief moment, she could see her girlfriend intently reading the book, ignoring the rest of the world.

Walking through the library, Ruby looked over several book titles while passing them, but didn't pull any from the shelf. She pulled a book off the shelf that seemed to have a red leather cover, but as soon as her hand touched it, the book turned black and forcefully inserted itself back into the shelf causing the knight to jump back in surprise. Taking a few steps back, she watched the black book as its color slowly shifted back to red.

Making sure Weiss was still within sight, she continued down the aisle while looking for a book to read. After a short while, she came to the end of the book shelves and entered another aisle. Immediately, she felt a blur crash into her, throwing her back several feet into the ground.

Quickly getting off the ground, Ruby drew her scythe and looked for her attacker. She then froze as she watched the blur stop revealing the scribe Oobleck holding a few books under his arms. "Mister Oobleck?" she asked, securing the scythe on her back.

"Ah, yes, Rose, was it?" he asked her in almost an instant causing Ruby to almost miss what he said. "Terribly sorry about bumping into you, but I am in a bit of a rush." He then paused for what felt like a second to think before continuing. "Actually, you are not a mage, right?"

"Well, yes, but-" she said, only to be cut off by the man suddenly appearing in front of her.

"Excellent, I have been needing the assistance of a non-mage for quite some time. Come, I need your help," he told her and gestured for her to follow.

"Wait, I can't leave Weiss alone," Ruby told him. "I'm supposed to be guarding her."

"Hmm, so you say she needs protection? If I were to ensure that nothing was to happen to her for a period of time, would you help me?" he asked while reaching into one of his pockets for a piece of paper.

"Well, I don't know, I can't just leave her. What would you even have me do?"

"I need your help reading magic tomes," he said to her then began folding the piece of paper into the shape of a bird. "It may sound like nothing, but with your help I may be one step closer to solving the blood mage problem."

Ruby paused for a moment, raising a hand under her chin to think for a moment before looking up at the man. "If you can really help with the blood mage, then I might help, but how will you ensure nothing will happen to Weiss?"

"A rather simple spell actually," he said, then took out some ink and a dip pen. Coating the tip of the pen in ink, he quickly drew some symbols onto the paper bird that shortly after started to glow. Once the glow faded, Ruby watched as the paper bird started to move as if it was alive. "This simple construct has the ability to watch for danger and with its direct link to me, I will know if anything were to happen to the young princess. While I highly doubt anything will happen to her in this school filled with pacifists, it can help protect your friend from harm."

"I guess I can help you then, but I can't be gone for long," she said with a shrug.

The older man smiled as he raised his hand to throw the paper bird, causing it to fly towards the princess. Ruby then watched as it flew down the rows of bookshelves before landing on the edge of Weiss's table, not distracting her in the least.

"Now then, Miss Rose, please follow me," Oobleck said with a smirk before bolting down the aisle, not so fast as to make him appear as a blur, but enough to have him be at the far side of the room before she could even react.

"Ok, so he does use speed magic," Ruby muttered to herself as she put her left foot forward, preparing to get into a running stance. Then in an instant, she bolted down the aisle, managing to reach the scribe's table in a matter of seconds, causing the man to look at her in shock.

He remained speechless for a moment before placing the books he was holding down and looked up at her. "Are you sure you're not a mage?"

"I can't use magic, so I'm pretty sure," she said then took a second to breathe.

"Very well, but if you are a mage, we'll find out shortly," he told her as he handed her a blue leather book. "Open this and read the first few pages."

Opening the book, Ruby could immediately tell it was about controlling water. Reading the first page, her attention was drawn towards the explanation on how to channel one's magic through their arm and into the air, creating water in the palm of their hand. Before she could continue reading, Oobleck reached over and pulled the book out of her hands.

"Well, it seems you are in fact not a mage," Oobleck said as he closed the book and placed it on the table, "otherwise the information would have flowed into your mind while putting you into a trance rather than forcing you to read it."

"So, you just need me to read these books?" she asked, sitting down. "Since you are a mage, you would have to absorb the type of magic in the tome when you read it."

"Exactly, and I would rather not learn how to perform hydromancy," he explained to her while opening several of the books on the table.

"And how is this supposed to help stop the blood mage?"

"Well, Miss Rose, in order for us to stop the blood mage, we must first be able to properly fight him instead of waiting for him to feed on another mage," he said then pressed his hand on a closed magic tome, causing a green light to glow from his hands. "When young Grant consumes the blood of another mage, he is able to absorb and use that person's main form of magic for a period of time. If he kills that mage and absorbs all of their magical energy, he permanently learns his victim's main form of magic while increasing his own magical power." He paused for a moment as a look of shock passed over Ruby's face. "He already has a number of victims already; the teachers and prized pupils skilled in combat magic tried to take him down but were killed. Absorbing powerful magics from them forced the rest of us to retreat into the college. We managed to erect a barrier to keep him from coming onto school grounds, but it won't last forever."

"So, we need to find a kind of magic that can stand against him."

"Yes, but there is another problem. The Arch-Mage and many of the teachers need to capture Grant alive," he said causing Ruby to raise an eyebrow. "Blood magic in not a common thing taught in magic schools, and it is something that the teachers take extra precautions to make sure none of their students know it when they enter, so that means Grant learned this magic with outside help. The Arch-Mage put me, and several teachers, in charge of finding a way to restrain and possibly reverse the effects of blood magic in order to find out how he learned it."

"I think I understand," Ruby said as he removed his hand from the book.

"Very well, let's get to work," he said, handing Ruby a different magic tome.

* * *

 **Alright, so, we got a lot of exposition from this chapter, except what exactly a scribe is, but that will be explored in the next chapter.**

 **We get a glimpse into Cinder's plan involving some sort of an ancient ritual. So, they need to have someone with massive magical power to be used in a ritual, and blood magic seems be one of the ways to do that.**

 **The magic weapons in that room are useless, which kinda shows how long they have been sitting there. Then they have Roman hidden pretty well by illusions, so there's no reason they wouldn't be able to hide him while they find a suitable hiding spot.**

 **Then we get the fact that most of the people from the college are pacifists. They don't like conflict, which is what they escaped from. They will defend themselves if they're attacked, but they won't actively fight people. It also makes them easier targets for people trying to infiltrate their ranks.**

 **No Penny this chapter, but that's because I couldn't fit her in without the chapter feeling forced. Next chapter though, we actually get a glimpse of what she is... and on a lesser note, what a scribe is.**

 **Weiss gained... drum roll please, *tapping fingers on desk* THE ABILITY TO SPEED READ! Yeah, not the most glamorous power, but she's basically scanning books so that anyone who has access to the Library of Knowledge can read it. So basically those websites that pirate college textbooks, and as a college student, I chuckled at the thought of Weiss pirating textbooks.**

 **Hopefully next chapter we can proceed with the plot, but a bit of exposition is needed, especially with how complicated a lot of this stuff is.**

 **On a side note, I have drank so much Snapple, that I'm pretty sure the last three chapters have been fueled by the fruity goodness of that drink, and now I have so many useless fun facts flowing through my brain. Though, I did know some of them beforehand, like the fact that Antarctica is the largest desert in the world. So, I think at the end of my chapters, I'll put my favorite Snapple fact up just for fun.**

 **This chapter's winner: There is a volcano on Mars the size of Arizona.**

 **I need to sleep. Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	83. Magic Lessons

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A with a chapter of The Princess and the Rose I had up for roughly 9 hours before I decided to take it down. I was not in a good state of mind at the time of writing this and I made a decision to take it down before many people had a chance to read this. So to the 140 people who had read Chapter 83, I am sorry you got to deal with Unhinged Van before the editing process. So now I'm going to make this chapter better and with an actual title.**

 **Reviews**

 **Yakosh: The time flow is relatively the same. Like during Weiss's test, she is revealed to have a cut leg, then the next section was going back in time to explain what happened. With the fear demon, time was affected a bit since the personal nightmares involved dreams. It's complicated, but not, sort of.**

 **Silverwolf2015: I make an effort to respond to reviews. The blood mage was the gangly man that attacked the group outside the castle and Roman and co. need to stop him because he is dangerous to their plan. No dark!Ruby. She's naturally fast, but a lot of people seem to think it's affected by magic.**

 **239h4r: ALL BOW TO THE CORGI GOD ZWEI! No, that was a typo. I fixed it. She's not tranquil, but you're in the right game. Instead of NPCs, you should think more of companions. Also, Inquisition is probably my favorite one, except for the fact you can't be a healer.**

 **bankerrtx01: Oh, Salem is going to become more of a threat in later chapters.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: She's not a mage, some might think she's magic, and gangly man simply really likes eating magic, and Ruby has a lot. If there were comic books in this universe, then yes. I may or may not have had a note on my cliffnotes document about how tomes work since a long time ago.**

 **Guest: I enjoy writing his non-evil persona, too bad he's not a character in focus during this arc.**

 **Cun: Oh, the easy banter goes away after a while, but that'll come back when everyone get's back together, but that won't be for a while. RWBY will be back together soon-ish, I just need to finish this arc. Trust me, I've had that same thought about Yang and Weiss in their magic progression, which was a big plot point for a while. That's why when the group gets back together I'll be focusing more on Blake and Ruby, Blake with her PTSD and Ruby with... things *shifty eyes*. Ruby will be getting her moments, but yeah, for a time, she was a damsel in distress.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"So, what is it you're working on today?" Weiss asked Ruby as they entered her practice room, the younger girl carrying a stack of books that Weiss could feel magic power coming from.

"Same thing as usual," she replied, walking over to the side of the room where a table was located and placed the books down. "I'll be identifying old magic tomes so Oobleck can find one that will help them stop the blood mage. After we're done here, we can go to the library and I can drop off the books while you study. Don't worry, I'll keep watch while you work on your summoning."

"Hopefully, I can get a full creature this time," Weiss told her while walking to the center of the room. "One week and I can only summon an arm and part of its torso. I thought that by now I'd be able to summon the whole statue guardian."

"It'll take some time, Weiss," Ruby said as she opened the first magic tome. "You're a spellcaster, not a summoner. I'm sure it's going to take time to learn something that you aren't that used to, just like me and fencing."

"You're still not that great at it," she chuckled, sitting on the ground with her legs crossed, "though, you have come further in fencing than most fighters could have in a short amount of time." Placing her hands on her knees, she closed her eyes. "Although, I don't think you'd be great with any other weapon than that giant scythe."

"It is my baby after all," Ruby told her causing Weiss to open one eye and look back at her. "What? Don't tell me you're getting jealous of Crescent Rose now?"

"At least you aren't calling it your sweetheart anymore," Weiss said closing her eye and turning back forward.

"Of course I had to change it, I have a different sweetheart now," she said causing Weiss to immediately open her eyes and blush. Ruby smirked as she watched Weiss try to hide her blush and get back into a meditative stance only to continue to be flustered. After Weiss regained her composure, Ruby's hand unconsciously reached into her side pouch to pull out the velvet bag and look at it, causing her to feel a slight pain in her chest. _'Maybe today?'_ It was only moments later she heard a thud, forcing her to look back up and see Weiss collapsed on the ground. "Weiss!"

* * *

Weiss opened her eyes, seeing the large room that she knew was Knowledge's at the top of the library. She then noticed that she was sitting on one of the loveseats in the room next to a small pile of books she recognized as ones she read throughout the week. Standing up, she saw the white and brown hair of Knowledge's human form standing in front of the large triangle window.

As she walked over to the spirit, she saw that outside of the window was not the usual white light, but a large forest in autumn. Looking closer at the forest, she could see hills in the distance covered in green trees that overlooked the red, orange, and yellow forest. Knowledge then heard Weiss approach, so without turning, she spoke, "Do you know what I've always enjoyed Weiss? Visiting the memories of my previous masters and seeing the mortal realm. This place in particular, a location mortals call 'Forever Fall' is probably my favorite. It might have something to do with my time before I was a spirit. Maybe I was an adventurer and went here or lived in a village nearby, but alas, I have no memories of my time as one of you. A bit ironic given my name. Though, it doesn't stop me from wondering."

"Are you going to tell me why you brought me here, and how? I wasn't asleep, so I shouldn't have been brought into the Fade," Weiss said walking towards the woman.

"You were meditating, Weiss, and while it is not technically sleeping, I was able to bring you in," Knowledge explained, turning to face the shorter girl, looking at her with her black eyes. "As to why? Well, I thought I would help you."

"Help me?"

"Yes, you seem to be particularly stuck on how to summon that statue guardian. Since you are my master, I figured I might as well help you," she said waving her hand in front of the window, causing the forest to fade and be replaced by a large stone room with the guardian frozen in the middle of combat with Ruby and Blake. "Using your memories, I was able to find the moments when you and your friends fought the creature."

"So, you want me to look at this and memorize what the statue looked like," Weiss concluded then looked out of the window as various images flashed over the window before suddenly fading to white. "Hey, why did you stop that?"

"I stopped showing you those images because there is an easier way for you to remember every detail of that statue guardian," Knowledge told her as she raised her hand up, placing two fingers on Weiss's forehead. "I am a Spirit on Knowledge, after all."

Weiss felt a pulse suddenly hit her head, causing her to stumble back a couple feet as she suddenly felt a headache form. Then she had a vivid image of the guardian pass through her head. "What did you do?" she asked, rubbing the sides of her head.

"I made you remember," Knowledge said flicking her hand upwards, causing an armchair to form underneath Weiss before she fell to the ground. "Humans' memories can become muddled over time. You had fought that creature over a year ago, so you weren't able to clearly recall what it looked like. That was one of the factors as to why you aren't able to summon it."

"There are more?" Weiss asked as the pain started to fade. "What are you talking about?"

"You are doing what a lot of humans tend to do when they try something. You are trying to start off big and grand with your summon using all of your magic power, instead of trying something a bit smaller."

"What does that even mean?"

"Well, I can't tell you that. There are some things you should find out on your own, Miss Schnee," Knowledge said with a smirk then flicked her hand, causing Weiss's vision to turn black.

* * *

"Weiss! Weiss!" she could hear Ruby's voice shout as she slowly opened her eyes. She immediately saw the concerned face of Ruby looking down at her on the verge of tears. "Weiss, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Ruby," Weiss told her, sitting up. "Knowledge brought me into the library suddenly to talk about my summoning magic."

She then felt Ruby quickly reach over and kissed her forehead before hugging her tightly. "Please don't do that again. You really scared me." She slowly loosed her grip, only to bury her head into Weiss's shoulder. "You just suddenly collapsed, and I didn't know what to do. I tried everything to wake you up, but nothing worked."

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she reassured her while reaching up to hug the younger girl. "I'll be sure to tell Knowledge not to drag me in during the day. She did help me with my summoning by burning an image into my mind I'm sure I will never forget." Resting her chin on Ruby's shoulder, Weiss held her for a moment in silence before blowing some hair from her eyes. "Though, she did tell me something cryptic that I still don't understand. Something about falling for what most people tend to do when they try something in starting off big and grand instead of trying something smaller."

"Well, maybe she wasn't being cryptic," Ruby suggested, pulling back slightly to face the princess while still holding her. "The creature you're trying to summon was a rather big one, so maybe Knowledge was being literal."

Weiss was silent for a bit, thinking about what Ruby had said. "You might have a point," she said while letting go of Ruby with one arm to bring it down to the floor. She then slowly started to drag her pointer finger across the ground in a circular formation. Moments later, a white light was being drawn on the floor before filling the circle. "My magic is not really summoning a creature from another realm, rather it's just creating it with my own power. So, all this time I have been focusing on constructing the creature as I remembered it, which was several times larger than us. That forced me to use too much magic to create a portion of the creature, draining my magic power over a long period of time."

Both girls then watched as a small helmet, roughly the size of their fists raised itself out of the ground. Focusing on the image burned into her mind, Weiss then saw the rest of the knight rise out of the portal before it closed. Standing in front of them was the statue guardian being roughly the size of their forearm, standing still with the tip of its sword on the ground.

"Huh, you were right," Weiss said in mild disbelief as she watched the creature look around the room.

"I knew you could do it," Ruby said with a laugh, squeezing Weiss tighter.

"I thought you said it would take some time for me to learn something I wasn't used to?" she asked her, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

"I did say that, but it doesn't mean I didn't believe in you," Ruby smirked before letting go of her girlfriend. "Anyway, you had help from your spirit friend, so that sped up the process a lot. Not to mention, I had a big influence."

"Ok, you have a point," Weiss said as both girls stood up. She then looked over to the small guardian standing partway up her knee. "So, I think we now have to wait for this thing to go away before I can try summoning a larger one. What should we do while we wait."

"Well, I still have to identify those magic tomes, and you can't read them without absorbing the magic. So, I don't know. You could try working on increasing your magic power," Ruby suggested to her, walking over to the wooden table.

"It's not a bad idea. After all, I need more magic power to summon that thing in its entirety," she said while taking a few steps forward then looking back to see the guardian following her.

As Ruby reached the table, her eyes were suddenly drawn to the velvet bag. She immediately felt pain in her chest as she picked up the small bag before looking over to Weiss, who was now creating large ice walls in front of her. _'Not today,'_ she thought, putting the velvet bag back into her side pouch, biting her bottom lip, _'She needs to focus on her magic training.'_ With a sigh, she sat down and opened the closest tome.

* * *

Roman cautiously followed Neo onto the snow covered ground in front of the stairs leading down from the college. Constantly looking over his shoulder, he could see the spearman and dragonslayer Mercury travelled with, noticing they hadn't noticed his presence. Before he could ask Neo why they weren't looking at him, he noticed her smirk and watched as she created another illusion to cover themselves.

"So, how's your hand?" he asked her as they descended the stairs, looking at the small girl's bandaged hand. Neo raised it up before giving him a thumbs up. "Alright, just make sure to keep the area clean in case you open up the wound. The last thing either of us want is to amputate your hand." After a brief moment of silence, he chuckled. "You know, you could have easily cut the side of one finger to prove your point instead of slicing open your hand."

At that comment, he watched as Neo's head tilted back slightly before tilting to the left, a motion he was well accustomed to she rolled her eyes at him. Chuckling to himself, they made their way to the bottom of the stairs and neared the glowing white barrier.

She smirked as she drew her sword and thrusted it into the barrier. Initially, the blade bounced off the magic, only managing to leave a small scratch. Placing her hand on the base of the hilt, she ran forward while bracing the weapon to use her weight in the strike. The thin blade managed to pierce the barrier before she pushed forward, having half of the blade through the barrier.

Piercing down to the hilt, Neo pushed down the weapon near the ground before pulling back up, cutting a hole in the barrier as the cut-out portion dissolved. While the hole started to heal, she quickly grabbed Roman's shirt and threw him through before jumping through herself.

"Great," he groaned as he stood up, brushing the snow off himself. "Now then, I would rather we get out of here before the blood mage-" Suddenly, Neo grabbed his shoulder and the area around him changed to the familiar run down wooden buildings of Squall's Edge. "Ok, so that worked-" Before he could continue, he vomited onto the snow-covered street. Leaning against his cane and catching his breath, he pointed at Neo and turned to look at her while wiping his mouth with a handkerchief. "Before you get that smug look on your face, you know this is why we don't teleport everywhere."

She rolled her eyes at him for a moment while patting his back, but as soon as he turned his head to vomit again, Neo couldn't help but smirk. A moment later, Roman regained his composure and twirled his cane. "So, Squall's Edge. If I remember correctly, one of our old contacts still lives around here," he said starting to walk down the street before Neo quickly grabbed his sleeve to get his attention. "What?" She simply pointed at a cellar hatch near the building they were standing next to. "Of course you would teleport us here."

Opening the hatch and walking down the stairs, Neo and Roman entered a large room filled with crates containing papers, weapons, gold, or various other objects. Neo reached into one crate and pulled out a gold bar before Roman had to swat her hands, forcing her to let it go. She scowled at him for a moment before her attention was drawn towards the back of the room.

"Roman Torchwick, you have a lot of nerve coming here after suddenly disappearing over a year ago," a voice said to him from the back of the room. He turned around and saw a woman with long brown hair wearing a thick fur coat walk in front of a desk in the back.

"Debra, what a surprise," he said scratching the back of his head. "It's been a while. How've you been? How's the kids?"

"Cut the crap, Roman. Why are you here?" she asked him, leaning against the desk.

"To put it simply, I need anti-magic collars," he told her. "I'm in a bit of a difficult situation, and I need those collars."

"For what? Your little maniac here?" she asked gesturing at Neo, receiving a glare from the small girl as she drew her sword. Debra immediately raised her hands in front of herself. "Relax, kid, I know you could kill me if you wanted to." She then turned to face Roman again. "What makes you think I kept those damn things? After you left I changed the business so that we captured normal people. Mages are too much of a hassle because if you don't collar them fast enough, they have a chance of killing you, or they end up breaking their collars and kicking your ass."

"You didn't have to remind me."

"No, I think I did. Anyway, I don't have any of them left. Sold them for a decent amount of gold," she told him as she pulled a piece of paper from the desk. "If you want the man who bought them you'll have to find Regis. He stopped here for a day picking up a shipment before heading to Vacuo."

Neo raised her hand and was about to flick it to the side to teleport them, but Roman quickly raised his hand, signaling for her to stop. "You and I both know damn well that Regis would never waste his precious gold on buying collars for mages. He sells children before they show any signs of magical amplitude, not caring if the slaves kill their new masters once they reach a certain age," he said causing her to curse under her breath. "Also, those collars are something you would never get rid of, in case some slave were to suddenly show signs of having magic. So, where are they?"

"I'm not giving you the-" she said, causing Neo to blink out of existence before appearing next to Debra with her sword against her neck. "T-they're in a small crate, on the ground, left side of my desk."

"See, that wasn't so hard," he told her, walking over to the small crate before opening it. Inside were thirty metal collars with glowing blue jewels on the outside. "I only need maybe ten, and these were originally mine, so I'm just taking back some of my property. The rest you can use as you please, I honestly don't care what for." He then flicked two fingers to the side signaling for Neo to remove the blade from Debra's neck. Then Neo hopped off the desk before sheathing her sword and walking past Roman. "Now then, I need to be off. My job still requires my presence and teleportation takes a hell of a toll on the body crossing continents. Neo, if you would."

Debra watched as the small girl walked over to a large crate in the room. Reaching in, she pulled out a gold bar from the box and slid it into her sleeve. Before Debra could say anything, Neo flicked her hand and both she and Roman disappeared.

* * *

"-and this tome is about being able to manipulate plants, either growing them or to forcing them to move depending on how you use it," Ruby finished as she placed a green tome on Oobleck's table as Weiss sat nearby, watching the two of them. "Nothing I found seemed to be particularly useful for fighting against a blood mage."

"That's a shame, however, I found plenty more magic tomes for you to read," Oobleck said running to one end of the table and back to the other in an instant, carrying three more tomes. "Some of these are regular tomes, but Gregor did tell me to go to his quarters to retrieve a few tomes from his personal collection that he advised me only to look into as a last resort. They might even be too powerful for me to use my abilities as a scribe on."

"So, what exactly does a scribe do?" Weiss suddenly asked him. "You introduced yourself as a scribe, then use the title referring to magic abilities as if we know what it means."

"Well, a scribe does just that: scribe," he explained, which only confused the girls even more. "Allow me to clarify. A scribe normally writes things down or copies them. A magic scribe does the same thing, but with magic tomes." He paused for a moment to watch the look of confusion to pass over the girls' faces. "What did you think magic tomes appeared out of thin air?"

"Well, no," Weiss said looking off to the side, "but I guess I never really thought about where magic tomes came from."

"Of course you didn't, magic tomes are treated in the magic community as a rare commodity, but in reality, they are not," he told them as he reached over to grab a magic tome. "Scribes use their own power to create magic tomes, recording their knowledge of the magic into the pages. They can then create a tome from scratch if the form of magic they're writing about is one they already know of, but even if they don't, they can copy the information from one tome to an empty book. Though, the whole process is very draining on a scribe, so they have to wait roughly two weeks before trying to make another tome, or maybe more depending on the type of magic."

"So, what's stopping magic tomes from becoming more commonplace?" Ruby asked him, opening up another one of the magic tomes.

"Two reasons: lack of resources, and lack of scribes," he explained as he reached to his bag and pulled out an empty piece of paper, an inkwell, and a dip pen. "Scribing magic is one of those magics that cannot be put into tomes, it has to be inborn. Even then, if seen by someone who is not an expert, scribing magic can be potentially dangerous to the mage since it is a form of blood magic." Without even looking at them, he could tell they were shocked.

"You use blood magic, but isn't that-"

"Evil?" he interrupted her as he pricked the tip of his finger using the dip pen before letting a few drops of blood fall into his inkwell causing a green glow to emanate from it moments later. "I'm sure blood magic can be seen as evil considering the stigma surrounding it. Though, let me ask you this: am I evil?" he asked them, causing the girls to look at each other before looking at him with slight shrugs. "Magic is magic, regardless of form. Necromancy can raise the bodies of the dead, but if the need arises, one might need the help of the undead to survive. Pyromancy could be considered evil because of the use of fire to create mass destruction. So, why is blood magic any different?"

"You saw what the blood mage is like outside of the college," Weiss said to him. "He attacked us and tried to kill us."

"That is because he was forced to learn a form of magic that was incompatible with his own body and went insane," Oobleck explained to them as he raised his right hand causing it to glow before the glowing green ink started to rise from the inkwell. "Every mage runs the risk of going insane from reading magic tomes, even you. From what I've seen by observing Grant, his magic could've been potentially useful." The ink slowly floated through the air and drew a magic circle on the piece of paper before the remaining ink floated back into the inkwell. "If he and a group of mages were in a tough bind, he could use their blood to empower himself and teleport all of them to a different location." He then placed his hand on the piece of paper causing it to fold itself into a small fox that glowed green for a moment and started moving around. "Blood magic may have a certain stigma with it, but as I've said before, magic is just magic. This is a lesson that everyone should understand, but sadly, not everyone in Remnant is as open minded as a few individuals I have met over my lifetime."

Weiss and Ruby were silent for a moment before the princess spoke, "I… think I understand. Magic is only as evil as the mage using it."

"Precisely," he said with a smile then turned his attention back to his books. "Now then, let's get back to work. After this I will need to go to the Arch-Mage's quarters and retrieve the special magic tome, so tomorrow we will have much more difficult work ahead of us."

* * *

After a short while, Ruby had read the remainder of the magic tomes, determining what type of magic they were useful for before leaving a note on each book for Oobleck. Then she and Weiss started wandering through the library, finding books for her to read for Knowledge. Eventually, the girls found themselves sitting at a table with Weiss reading a history book about the last hundred years of Kingdom of Mistral and Ruby reading a bestiary about the differences between types of dragons.

"You know, Logan would probably be interested in reading this book," Ruby remarked before reading aloud, "'Of all the types of dragon, the Red subspecies is the only one that will attack unprovoked, actively seeking villages to burn and destroy.' I wonder if we can take any of these books with us."

"Probably not," Weiss immediately answered, not even looking up from her book. "If these mages are anything like Samuel, they hold books at a higher value than gold. I don't think they would even allow us to take these books with us back to the capital. I could read that book so that it is in the Library of Knowledge, then I can write a guide for him in our spare time."

"I think he'd like that," she said closing the book and placing it next to Weiss. "He's always acting so tough, but I'm sure he's just a big softie."

"I wouldn't be so-" she said, cutting herself off as she looked up at Ruby, only to see a girl with orange hair standing behind her, looking at the two of them. As soon as her gaze met the girl's, she felt a wave of uneasiness pass over herself. "Who are you?"

"What?" Ruby asked then turned around and saw the girl standing behind her. "Oh, Penny." She then turned back to Weiss before standing up to introduce them. "Penny, this is Weiss. Weiss, this is Penny, the girl I met on the first day that I told you about."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Penny greeted her before turning slightly and resting her hand under her chin. She then muttered under her breath, "Was that the proper greeting? It seemed fine."

"Right…" Weiss said looking away from Penny, but still feeling the uneasiness from before. _'Alright, so she's a little strange.'_ Immediately, she felt a sharp pain go through her head that lasted for only a moment.

"Oh, I knew it was the wrong greeting," Penny said under her breath, starting to get anxious. She then turned toward Weiss again. "Sorry, let me try again. Salutations, my name is… Penny Polendina, yes, that's right."

Weiss raised an eyebrow at her before giving her a slight wave. "Hello, I'm Weiss, Ruby's friend. You can sit down if you like."

"Ah, yes," she said sitting down on one of the chairs next to where Ruby was previously.

"Are you… all right?" Weiss asked her as Ruby sat down. "Even Ruby isn't this nervous when talking to new people, and that's saying something."

"Hey!" Ruby immediately remarked, which only got the response of Weiss looking at her with a cocked eyebrow. She then crossed her arms in front of herself before looking off to the side with a pout. "Ok, you have a point."

"Forgive me, I'm still new to this… talking thing," Penny said, looking at Weiss with her cloudy eyes.

"That seems a little strange, I thought all the magic students here had teachers and classmates. So, talking should be a normal occurrence," Weiss told her, closing the book she was reading before.

"I never really fit in here," Penny said, looking between Weiss and Ruby. "The only one I've ever really been able to talk to has been the really old man with the long stick."

"Arch-Mage Gregor?" Ruby asked her.

"Yes, but he never really talks to me, he just sits me down and ask me questions," she answered her. "The old man lets me stay here in exchange for asking me questions. He even put an enchantment on me that creates a circle on my hand whenever he wants to ask me things."

"And you don't think this isn't normal?" Weiss asked her. "You make it sound like the only person you've ever had contact with was Gregor. Surely you must've had a friend before."

"I did once, but she's been gone for a long time. That's why I was glad when Ruby and I became friends," Penny said with a smile before raising an eyebrow before looking at them both. "Though, one thing still confuses me: do friends usually kiss as often as you two do?"

Both Ruby and Weiss immediately froze before slowly turning to face each other, their faces starting to turn red. Weiss started to look around to make sure nobody was around as Ruby turned to face the orange-haired girl. "Penny, what are you talking about?"

"You said friends do what you and Weiss do, and you two kiss each other, a lot," she said nonchalantly. "It has been a long time since I had a friend, but is that something friends do now?"

"I think you might've been seeing things, Weiss and I don't kiss," Ruby frantically interjected. "Maybe you saw us bump heads or something."

"No, you two kiss oft-" Penny tried to say but was cut off by Ruby bolting forward in an instant and cupping a hand over her mouth.

"Could you please keep your voice down?" Ruby asked her.

Penny simply reached up and pulled Ruby's hand off her mouth with ease. "Oh, is this one of those 'secrets'?" she curiously asked, leaning in and keeping her voice down.

"Yes, it's a secret, one we would rather not get out," Weiss silently snapped at her. "How long have you known?"

"Since the first day you two arrived," she told them causing Weiss to immediately turn to Ruby and scowl.

"I don't know how she found out, we barely even met for five minutes," Ruby said shaking her head. "I only told her we were friends."

"Well, how could she have found out about us otherwise, I sure as-" Weiss said then looked to Penny and saw that on the back of her hand was a magic circle. "Penny, how long has that been there?"

"This?" Penny asked, raising her hand to show her and Ruby the circle. "This has been here since I started talking with you two, but by now the old man will probably be making his way here."

"Oh no," Ruby said taking a few steps back. "What will we do?"

"What will we do about what?"

"Penny, please tell me you won't tell Gregor the secret about me and Weiss?" she asked her, reaching over to the girl and grabbed her shoulders to look directly at her. "It's something important that we keep hidden."

"Keeping secrets, that's the kind of things friends do, right?" Penny asked looking over to Ruby.

"Of course," Ruby frantically answered her. "Can you please keep this a secret?"

"Very well then, I shall keep your secret," she told her, causing both girls to breathe a sigh of relief. Before they could calm down, Penny turned around and waved at Gregor just as he appeared from behind the shelves. "Salutations!"

"Hello again," Gregor greeted Penny then looked past her, seeing Ruby and Weiss trying to catch their breath with blushes on their faces. He then turned back to Penny and smiled. "I'm sorry, but could you go on ahead to library's entrance and wait for me? I must talk with Miss Rose and Miss Schnee for a moment."

"Ok!" she answered him, walking past the old man and headed towards the library's door.

Gregor simply chuckled to himself as he watched Penny disappear between the bookshelves towards the entrance. Then he turned around to look at the flustered girls. "I see you two have met the college's resident Curiosity," he said walking over to them.

"She's weird, but I wouldn't call her a curiosity," Weiss told him, regaining her composure.

"Oh, you misunderstand, she is a curiosity, an anomaly really," he told them. "Well, to be more specific, she is a Spirit of Curiosity inhabiting the body of a person. Not an abomination nor a human, but something… else."

* * *

 **So, with Well Rested Van, I was actually able to make this chapter a bit more coherent and not just filled with sudden jumps. As I've said at the beginning, I'm sorry to the people who had read the chapter before this edit and I'm also sorry to the people who clicked the link in their email and got an error message.**

 **I have got to say, I do not like Unhinged Van, he's actually a bit scary, to me at least.**

 **Well, let's go and cover what happened in this chapter, which is something I don't really understand why I started doing it.**

 **Weiss is able to summon her statue guardian now. I've been sort of hinting at how this process would work, but I was never fully clear. Since she's creating the creature using her own magic instead of actually summoning it, she could create a smaller creature by using much less magic. So now, she needs to increase her magic power before she could summon the guardian in its entirety.**

 **Also, should I have the girls name the statue guardian. I think it would be something they would do, but I am terrible at naming things (case in point: the assassin named Adam). So, any suggestions?**

 **Oobleck uses blood magic, but it is scribe magic which makes sense when you think about it. If the tome is able to teach a person a form of magic, then it in itself would have to be magic. Now, that is just one part of the tome, imagine what would happen if other parts of a tome were magical.**

 **Penny is a Spirit of Curiosity, which is sort of fitting, but how is she even able to exist in the mortal realm? I'm sure some people have already guessed just how, but I think I should give a bit more of a less subtle hint. By now you guys should know I am I big fan of the Dragon Age series. I'm basing Penny off of one of my favorite companions from Inquisition.**

 **Now then, I posted last chapter that I was going to bring up my favorite Snapple facts that I read during writing the chapter, which Unhinged Van immediately stopped doing, so...**

 **This Chapter's Snapple Fact: The word 'aegilop' is the longest word in the English language to have all of its letters in alphabetical order.**

 **So, have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	84. Spirits and Cents

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A with the latest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. So, I had intended to post this on Wednesday, but I was busy that night, so I didn't have time to write it. Then Thursday I was a bit busy with homework and this, so I decided to pull an all nighter. I do not recommend doing that. I've been awake for a solid 36 hours, worked on two speeches, studied for an exam, took said exam, and then wrote this. So needless to say, I'm a bit tired.**

 **Reviews**

 **k wolf omega: Well... to be honest, I had to think of some way to make an artificial human, so spirit, and she's going to be pretty important. You overthought this. Penny is a spirit, but only because I needed an artificial human.**

 **jphw: That question gets answered. Wächter might be interesting, but I'm going to name it in a later chapter if there are more suggestions.**

 **bankerrtx01: Unhinged Van might be interesting, but his writing kind of makes me cringe at the sudden transitions and mix ups about Penny and Weiss. Originally, it was that Weiss agreed to be Penny's friend, but decided against it because that would be a bit too far off from the show. What class do you play as in DA:I? I personally go with mage because magic is awesome. Though, they really toned the magic down from the first game.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: That's probably for the best, Unhinged Van isn't my greatest split personality. Currently, I'm going off of Extremely Sleep-Deprived Van. It's kind of been a theme in this story that Ruby often get's the short end of the stick, especially when Cruel Van takes the helm.**

 **Xyander64: Oh, crazy stuff will definitely happen before she actually proposes to Weiss. I hope I explained Penny enough in this chapter so you fully understand.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"She's a spirit?" Weiss immediately asked him. "How is a spirit able to be in a person's body if she's not an abomination?"

"That's what I've been trying to find out," Gregor answered her before gesturing towards the library's entrance. "That spirit's existence is an unexplained magic anomaly since she first came here. Roughly twenty years ago, a magical researcher was working here while looking into how to create golems. He had believed the secret to stone golems' existence was that they were simply spirits possessing stones. So, he spent several years trying to physically summon a spirit into our realm. I had helped him and discovered an ancient grimoire with mostly faded pages, which described a ritual requiring a massive amount of magic power to open a portal to the Fade. He was successful in doing so, managing to summon that Spirit of Curiosity; no doubt due to her curious nature, she investigated the portal and was brought out before it closed."

"So, who is she possessing? I've never heard of a spirit possessing someone, only demons," Weiss said while pointing in Penny's direction. "Is she really a spirit?"

"Considering she's been living here for four years with little problems, I think it's safe to assume she's not dangerous," he told them before his expression shifted towards a somber look, "But that wasn't always the case. The magical researcher I mentioned had a daughter who studied here and became friends with the spirit. Then one day, there was talk among the other teachers about destroying the spirit in fear of it being a demon, but both the spirit and the researcher's daughter heard of this plot and decided to flee the college to save her friend's life." He paused for a moment to let out a sigh before leaning against his staff. "We don't know much of what happened afterwards, but she had disappeared for several years before returning to the college different. It was shortly after we knew what had happened, but at some point the girl Penny had died, and Curiosity possessed her body. Since her body didn't have a soul in it, we believe that the spirit took her place and managed to trap herself in the empty vessel."

"So, Penny isn't Penny," Ruby concluded, getting his attention.

"That depends on how you perceive what makes a person," he said, standing up straight that caused several pops to be heard from his back. "The original Penny is long dead, and I mourn her passing to this day, but her body lives on with Curiosity living in it. If she decides to call herself Penny, who is to say she is not? Personally, I believe she is simply another person trying to survive in this world while experiencing the things that make her human, so it's nice to see her have a friend."

"There is still something I don't understand," Weiss said looking over to Ruby for a moment then turning back to Gregor. "She said some things that she shouldn't have known about."

"Oh, yes, that tends to happen with her," he chuckled to himself. "While she is inhabiting a human body, she is still a spirit, so she has some spirit abilities. Depending on the subject matter, I believe it may be best for her to explain it to you herself. Now then, I believe I have kept the young girl waiting long enough." He then started to turn away from them but stopped as his eyes passed over the table seeing the books Weiss was reading and then saw the few bestiaries Ruby was reading. Thinking to himself for a moment, he felt a quick flash of pain pass through his head. Suddenly, a thought popped into his head before smiling at the younger girl. "Before I go, Miss Rose, there are plenty of books in here filled with knowledge of the world and the monsters within. Since you are no doubt going to be fighting many a monster in the coming days, it may be beneficial for you to look through the books on the second floor. I'm sure you will find one book that will pique your interest."

"Thank you?" Ruby said, raising an eyebrow as the man started walking away.

"I wouldn't treat this so lightly. The second level of the library is restricted to most people due to the magical nature of some of those books, but you aren't a mage, and you're safe as long as you remain in the main area," he told her then man simply raised a hand and flicked it upwards causing a grey light to cover her body before fading. He then turned his hand to wave to the girls while walking away. "The way should be open for you now. Good day, ladies."

After the girls watched Gregor disappear into the bookshelves, Weiss turned to Ruby and let out a sigh. "So, Penny's a spirit," she said leaning against the table, "I guess that makes just about as much sense as anything. Though, he did mention some interesting facts. Do you remember the iron golems from Fort Mantle, the ones the Arcanist was working on?"

"Yeah, they were really useful during the siege, but we found out they were using people to create them," she added before muttering, "One of them also broke Yang's arm, so they aren't on my list of favorite things."

"Well, apparently Pyrrha kept her word and Mistral sent over some magic researchers to investigate Atlas about using someone's soul to create a golem. Samuel didn't tell me what happened afterwards, but supposedly iron golem production has stopped for the time being," she told her, but quickly shook her head. "I'm getting sidetracked. The Arch-Mage mentioned that the magical researcher was looking into how to create golems. If the magical researcher was the Arcanist, then a lot of this would make sense."

"Just about as much sense as anything," Ruby said with a smirk as she leaned against the table next to Weiss, causing the older girl to scoff as the younger copied her words from before. "What?"

"Nothing," Weiss said while getting off the table and walking over to her book, "I still have a lot of work to get done for today, but I should be able to read through these rather quickly. After that, we should probably find Penny and figure out just how she knows about us."

"Yeah, could we also go to the second floor?" Ruby asked her while looking up to said floor, seeing nobody up there. "I'm kind of interested in just what Gregor said about the books."

Weiss simply looked up at her girlfriend while opening one of the books. "You can just go there now. I won't stop you."

"But, I'm supposed to be watching over-"

"Ruby," she interrupted her, "I am fully capable of watching myself for a short while. You can go find a book and come back. We have plenty of time before we even have to leave here."

"Fine, I'll go and leave you by yourself," Ruby told her, turning around to walk away before turning back, seeing Weiss already intently reading the next book. "I'll be back."

* * *

Making her way to the stairs to the second level, Ruby couldn't help but feel like she was being followed. Peeking over her shoulder, she didn't hear anyone, but she swore she heard footsteps. Looking cautiously over her shoulder, she continued onwards reaching the large black metal door with glowing runes.

She reached over and placed a hand against the handle, causing the grey light to appear over her hand, allowing her to easily turn the handle. The door opened with ease and Ruby entered the stone staircase with the door closing shortly behind her. Taking a couple of steps inward, she swore she could hear the sounds of someone mimicking her footsteps.

"Hello?" she asked, immediately hearing a slight echo from the staircase. "Alright, so there isn't anybody here, right?" No response. "Well, at least Mercury isn't here, otherwise I'd never hear the end of this."

The second level of the library was unnervingly quiet, filled with bookshelves against the walls on a balcony that overlooked the first level of the library. As she went further in, Ruby began to notice that near the back wall was a large somewhat open lounge area filled with lavish chairs and tables that seemed extremely different from the simple ones on the first floor.

She made her way over to the bookshelves and began browsing through the shelves. Though, through the corner of her eye, she could've sworn she saw a flash of silver. Ignoring the books she was looking at previously, Ruby then unconsciously started walking to the back of the second floor towards where she saw the flash, making her way to a large wooden door. She could have sworn there were glowing runes on the door, but they seemingly faded away.

Taking a closer look at the door, she saw restricted sign that caught her attention. So, she started to turn away from the door, but the flash of silver caught her eye again. Without even thinking, Ruby grasped the door's handle and turned it only to feel resistance from the handle's lock. She blinked a few times and removed her hand only to hear the inner mechanisms unlock themselves before the door opened by itself.

Walking into the restricted section, Ruby unconsciously walked further into the room while she felt a slight stabbing pain in her eyes. Ignoring the brief pain, she made her way to a small bookshelf where she could see a grey leather-bound book that she seemed drawn to.

Ruby pulled the book out from the bookshelf and it almost slipped from her hands by the thick layer of dust impeding her grip. Reaching down, she rubbed off the dust with her jacket's sleeve revealing strange runes carved in the leather in a circle surrounding a metallic eye. Taking a closer look at the metal, she recognized it as pure silver.

She carefully opened the book and saw that the first few pages seemed to talk about how the information enclosed was dangerous to every mage who dared to read it. Then she flipped to the next page, seeing a colored image of a silver eyeball held in someone's hand. Trying to avoid gagging at the realistic drawing, she watched as the picture moved so the eye turned to look directly at her. Immediately dropping the book to the ground, she took a couple steps back, forcing her to grab a nearby counter to stabilize herself, knocking over several strange books.

She then slowly walked back to the grey book but kept her distance in order to reach over and turn the page. Instantly, she felt relief as soon as she saw there were only words. Picking up the book, she began reading it, noticing the information was abut things she already knew; silver eyes contain massive magical power that can be taken by a mage if eaten, but only if the mage was powerful enough. She flipped to the next page read the description on how a mage in the process of absorbing the silver eyes' power will feel as if their blood was on fire, but if they are not powerful enough, their entire body will explode, causing massive damage to the immediate area.

Ruby read the next page of the book, raising an eyebrow at the words written on the paper. "'A person with silver eyes can only come into existence as long as both parents have silver eyes, or one of their parents has silver eyes and the other is… a mage'?" she read aloud to herself before looking up slightly. _'Dad isn't a mage, right? He told us before that he cannot perform magic,'_ she thought to herself. _'Then again, he and Uncle Qrow always told me that mom was a schoolteacher.'_ Dismissing any further thoughts, she flipped to the next page and saw that it was on how to lessen the magic of the silver eyes temporarily with an incantation to be safer to consume.

Before she could read the actual incantation, her attention was drawn towards the open door. "Ruby? Ruby, where are you? I'm finished here," she heard Weiss call out for her. "Just how long are you planning on spending up there." Looking at the grimoire in her hand, Ruby quickly closed the book before securing it to the back of her belt and began running out the restricted section, making sure to close the door behind herself before running down the stairs to the first floor.

* * *

Weiss looked around the library for any signs of her girlfriend. Letting out a sigh, she crossed her arms in front of herself and leaned against the table. Then she heard the sounds of footsteps quickly approaching her. With a smile, she turned her head, just as Ruby ran up to her and stopped, causing a gust of wind to hit her.

"You know, you could've at least made an effort to not cause a blast of air," Weiss told her then looked over the younger girl. "Did you find anything?"

"I… no, I didn't find anything interesting," Ruby said as adjusted the sides of her cloak to cover herself and the book.

It was then that Weiss felt a strange magical presence coming from her girlfriend. "Right? Well, we should probably put these books away and head back," she said then picked up several of the books and started walking towards the bookshelves, looking at Ruby and raising an eyebrow at the younger girl.

* * *

As both girls entered the main hall of the college, they could see Mercury walking through the hall with Emerald. Once they set foot in the room, she looked directly at them with her red eyes. She then immediately nudged Mercury's side and gestured her head in the direction of the two girls.

"Mercury!" Ruby called as she started running over to him with Weiss trailing behind. "Where have you been for the past week?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess we haven't talked for a while, Red," he replied, reaching up to scratch the back of his head. Emerald slowly turned her head to look at him with a smirk and raised an eyebrow after hearing his change in tone. "Don't worry, I've been doing work. Logan and Erdin have been asking around the college for help, but they haven't had the best luck. I, on the other hand, have actually been finding help." He then turned to Emerald and gestured towards her. "Princess, Red, meet Emerald. She and her friend have agreed to help us deal with the blood mage."

"Hello," Ruby greeted her, giving her a smile and a wave.

"Hi," Emerald replied, giving her a slight wave. "That blood mage has been a thorn in our side for a while, so it would make sense that we would want to help."

"Your voice…" Weiss interjected, catching Emerald and Mercury's attention. "I can't quite place it, but I feel as though we've met before."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she told her, raising a hand to rest her chin on it. "I think I would remember meeting a princess."

"I might have been my imagination," she said then thought to herself for a moment, but quickly dismissed the thought. "So, what can you and your friend do?"

"Illusion magic, it'll be useful enough to trick an insane blood mage. He doesn't have much of a mind left, but that'll mean he's more susceptible to illusions," she explained to them. "When he's distracted, you and your knights will have a small window of opportunity to attack him."

"Alright then, just be prepared to fight that blood mage in a week," she told her. "If possible, can you try to convince anyone else in the college to help you?"

"I can try, but you're not going to get much help from a group of pacifists, especially since the only other people who could fight were killed by the blood mage," Emerald said with a shrug.

"We appreciate the help either way," Mercury interjected, turning to Emerald. "You shouldn't be in any combat, so you should be safe."

"I appreciate the thought, but I can handle myself," she told him with a huff before turning to Weiss and Ruby. "I think there are a couple teachers that would be willing to help you. Mercury, will you join me?"

"I have a job to do-"

"Mercury, just go," Ruby interjected. "You're not on guard duty, and I'm sure you can use that silver tongue of yours to talk with the teachers with Emerald."

"If you think this is for the best," he said then turned to Weiss, who simply nodded at him. "Very well then. Emerald, lead the way." Weiss and Ruby waved at the two of them for a moment, then started walking towards their room. As Emerald and Mercury walked away towards the stairs to the basement, she let out a short laugh. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing," she told him while trying not to laugh even more. "It's just entertaining seeing how much your act with them differs from how you really are."

"Yeah, well, earning their trust was vital to my mission," he told her then let out a long groan. "I do hate that I can't just take them out. On the bright side, if Cinder's plan fails, I have a potential career as a knight." He quickly sidestepped to avoid a quick punch aimed at his shoulder from a scowling Emerald. "Either way, are you sure our plan will work?"

"Of course, Neo has already found the five crystals around the college that they use to create the barrier. So now we just need to find the best time to attack."

"Well, considering that as soon as the barrier is down, the blood mage is going to immediately attack the college," he said scratching his chin. "Ideas on what time of day would work?"

"You should know fully well that a mage is probably most dangerous in the morning since they haven't used any magic power for the day," she explained to him. "In terms of magical power, mages are most likely weakest late in the day or at night."

"I think we could work with that."

* * *

"Today has been a long day," Weiss said with a sigh as she pulled her jeweled hairpin from her low ponytail, letting her hair fall down her back before sitting down on a chair. "It's almost hard to believe that today started with me just figuring out how to summon a creature."

"Yeah, and Penny finding out about us was shocking," Ruby told her as she pulled a red tunic over herself, relieved to get out of her armor.

"We have been careful about what we've been doing together while we were here," she said turning to face her girlfriend. "Though we still need to ask her how she found out about us."

"Ask me about what?" both girls heard Penny ask from somewhere in their room. Looking around, they were shocked to see a glowing green Penny walk through their left wall before her glow faded.

"Penny, how did you do that?" Ruby nearly shouted at the girl.

"How did I do what?" she asked her, turning around to see if anything strange had occurred behind her.

"Walk through the wall," Weiss clarified.

"Oh," she said realizing what seemed strange. "I can sort of… do that. The old man told me that you two had questions or me, so I came over the fastest way I could."

"I mean, we do have questions but-" she said only to feel a sharp pain in her head, forcing her to stop talking.

"You both know…" Penny said in a soft tone, stepping back. "You both know I'm not… human."

"Ow," Weiss cringed as she rubbed the sides of her head causing Ruby to run over to her. After a brief moment, she looked up at Penny and continued. "What are you doing? This is the second time now I've had sudden headaches around you."

"That's strange, I also had a sudden headache when first meeting Penny…" Ruby trailed off as she realized just what Penny was doing. She then stood up and turned to the spirit. "You're reading our minds. That's how you learned about Weiss and I."

"I-I'm sorry," Penny said taking a few steps back, starting to glow. "You probably hate me now."

"No, no," Ruby quickly interjected before Penny could walk through the wall, causing her to stand still and stop glowing. "We don't hate you, but we were concerned about how you found out about us."

"Relationships like ours are not as common, nor as accepted as conventional relationships in Atlas," Weiss explained as she felt the pain in her head subside.

"Girls can't be friends?" Penny asked them, walking over to the two. "That doesn't make any sense."

"No, no, it's nothing like that," Ruby quickly interjected. "We're just a bit… more than friends."

"Oh… Oh!" Penny exclaimed as realized what Ruby had meant, seeing a blush creep onto the other girls' faces. "So, I'm guessing we are not friends like that, Ruby?"

"No, we're not," she answered her before looking up at the orange-haired girl. "Though, I think it's probably better if we figure out what kinds of friends we are along the way rather than setting a standard."

"I think I'll like that," Penny said then walked over and hugged Ruby before whispering, "Also, it's probably better since I don't know where to find a pair of gold rings."

Ruby immediately pulled back, her face already a deep shade of red. "Yeah, we're also going to need to talk about when it is alright to read someone's mind and what exactly you read from it."

"What? What's going on?" Weiss asked them, not understanding what they were talking about.

"Nothing, Weiss, it's just a secret," Ruby said to her then looked up at Penny with a smile, "right?"

"Yes, it is," Penny answered her, "and friends keep each other's secrets." Both girls then giggled to themselves, leaving Weiss confused in her chair.

* * *

 **So, I may or may not be ending the arc next chapter. How? Well, spring break has started, so I have very little need for sleep. That means I hopefully will have the next chapter done on Sunday.**

 **One side fact if you read the first version of the previous chapter that I changed. In the last one I had Weiss agree to be Penny's friend, but I decided to go against it because that seemed a bit too far from the show. Penny and Ruby are going to be pretty good friends in this one, so I think I'm just going to focus on their relationship while Weiss and her become sort of friends.**

 **Penny is a spirit inhabiting the dead body of the daughter of the Arcanist, who is also named Penny. Her backstory was given in little detail here for a reason. I mean, she hasn't really told anyone what happened to her and Penny when they ran off, so when she actually reveals her backstory... well, there's going to be some stuff going on.**

 **Arcanist is original Penny's dad, not much of a shocker there.**

 **Mercury and Emerald make an appearance and set up the fact that the next chapter is going to be my attempt to end this arc.**

 **Penny can read minds and can phase through walls. It's not at all related to her powers in the show, but I had to bring up spirit magic in some way or another.**

 **Then the last and probably most important piece of info dropped in this chapter:**

 **Ruby found a silver eyes grimoire. To be a bit honest, that one was a bit forced, but there is no other logical place to find such a grimoire. It even hinted to her about her real father, and included a mention of an incantation that might be important later.** **The grimoire seems to have a sort of magic power, drawing Ruby to it and even unlocking the door to the restricted section. Funny thing is, she basically stole it. Yeah, either she'll get away with it because of lack of security, or Gregor will give it to her.**

 **So, one last thing. I'm going to be naming the guardian. Currently, the possibilities are** **Wächter and Titan. Any suggestion you might have, feel free to leave them in the reviews.**

 **Snapple Fact of the Chapter (which is the fact for one word): The first penny had the motto "Mind your business."**

 **Anyway, I need to get some sleep. Pulling an all nighter is never a good idea.**

 **I need to sleep.**

 **Have a nic day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	85. The Battle with the Blood Mage

**(New Update Van: Whoo! This took me a long time to do! I am incredibly sleep deprived and I wrote this, probably updating at my usual time of 2 am on a Monday! So, anyone like the changes to the arc if you went back to read it? This chapter includes a lot more content, like the enchanter actually makes an appearance and the fight lasts a lot longer. I'm going to sleep now! See you next week!)**

 **Hello everyone, I am J. Van A with the latest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. This is the last chapter of this arc, and I have to say, this has been my least favorite arc during this entire series. Seriously, I enjoyed the Siege Arc so much more than this one, and that's saying something considering I have been very open about my feelings towards that arc.**

 **Let's move onto reviews**

 **metalcorpse: Jötunn might be a good idea. Ice from Weiss and giant because the whole thing is a giant.**

 **jphw: Well, we get two more forms of magic she can do, and one more one that's not as much of a surprise considering how common it is. I'm sure White Rose isn't going to be running into as many mind readers, so they'll be fine. Last thing, we'll see...**

 **bankerrtxo1: Dragon Age: Inquisition. It's one of my favorite games, and there are a lot of elements from those games in this story.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Ok, so, you two actually managed to get some help?" Mercury asked Logan and Erdin as they, Ruby, Weiss, and Penny sat around a table in the library near Oobleck's research table.

"Yes, we found some help with some third-year students, and three teachers," Logan answered him then smirked, "and you only got help from an illusionist and a dwarf."

"I wouldn't call her a- never mind, you'll find out," he said, turning around to hide his mischievous smile. "Either way, I'm still surprised you found any help just after a week."

"The third-years are willing to set magical traps outside the college, but they aren't skilled in combat magic; so, when the fighting starts, they'll retreat to the college," Erdin interjected before Logan could retort, "Three of the teachers are helping. One willing to enchant our armor, but she's not able to enchant weapons. The second is the college's alchemist who is willing to brew us potions. Then the third is the college's barrier master; as soon as the barrier is down, he will create a dome around all of us outside, effectively keeping the blood mage in one area."

"I still think we need more time. Two weeks is not enough time to plan a battle with a teleporting cannibal blood mage," Mercury muttered before leaning back in his chair before gesturing towards Penny, "Also, who is this?"

"This is Penny," Ruby said gesturing towards her. "She's my friend-"

"Salutations," she interjected, waving at the three guys.

"-and she's not going to be part of the battle," she continued.

"Are you sure? I could be of some help," she told her. "I still have a lot of magic power, and I can do this." Penny then raised her right hand, causing a book on the table to float. "I can even use some damaging magic that made the teachers scared of me when I first arrived."

"Telekinesis and… vague destructive magic. Seems useful," Logan commented, catching the attention of the spirit. "Though, are you sure you'll be helpful with your… sight problems?"

"Sight problems?" Penny asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"Your eyes, they're cloudy," he said to her. "I've only seen eyes like that on blind or dead people, and since you're walking and talking, I just assumed…"

"I can see just fine," she told him. "So, I shouldn't be a burden is combat. If anything, I'm combat ready."

"Arch-Mage Gregor told us that you weren't allowed to be part of the fight," Weiss told her, leaning up in her chair. "If you managed to be bitten by this blood mage, he would absorb some of your magic, and we don't even know what kind of consequences that might have."

"Well, telekinesis might be bad, so I can understand why the Arch-Mage wouldn't want her here. That is, unless you have more powerful magic?" Erdin asked, looking at her before turning to Penny.

Before she could answer him, Ruby quickly reached up and covered her friend's mouth. "It's complicated," she told him, "but the short story is that it would be bad."

"There is one last issue," Oobleck told the group from his table, getting their attention. "I have been through nearly every magic tome in this building, yet I have not found a viable magic tome to counteract the mage. There a few tomes that might help, like illusions, but if Mister Black's friends are illusionists, then there is no reason to use the tomes. I can attempt to trap him in barriers, but even then, he's broken out of them rather quickly."

"Great, so we have: half of a plan, very little help, nothing to completely counter the blood mage's magic, and to top it all off, the Arch-Mage wants us to take him in alive," Logan grunted, throwing his head back in frustration. "This is going to suck."

"Everyone, just get some sleep," Weiss said to them. "We have three days to prepare for the fight. Tomorrow, Ruby and I will go the Enchanter. Logan, Erdin, you two will go to the Alchemist and help them with anything they need. Then Mercury, you need to get Emerald and her friend and find the third-year students to have them set up the magical attacks outside."

* * *

The next morning, Weiss and Ruby walked into a room in the southern tower they knew belonged to the college's enchanter carrying the jackets of their partners. Inside, they could see various metals and bottles filled with strange liquids along with a singular table in the middle of the room covered in glowing letters in a language neither of them understood. Sitting on the glowing table, both girls saw various different colored glowing crystals that emanated a slight mist.

"Hello?" Weiss called out while they walked into the room.

"Hello, hello, hell-" they heard a woman greet them behind a door in the back before a series of crashing sounds cut her off. Ruby and Weiss turned to face each other, both with a confused look on their faces. "I'm alright, I'm alright. I just tripped on some loose ice dragon scales, man those can be slipp-ERY!" Immediately, they heard another series of crashing sounds from the back of the room.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Ruby asked her as she and Weiss started walking to the back.

"Yes, yes, there just happened to be more scales than I thought there were," the woman told them as the door opened. She appeared in her early thirties with long blue hair that was now incredibly roughed up from falling over and was wearing a dark blue bath robe over a light blue nightgown. "I'm sorry about my appearance, but I only just woke up."

"If you want to change into something more proper, we can wait," Weiss said, looking over to the side.

"Nonsense, I work better without those restricting college robes Gregor makes us wear. 'We should look like a respectable school in the eyes of the world,'" she said, doing her best impression of the Arch-Mage. "Well, the world doesn't care about us and probably doesn't even know of our existence because we have to live in a mountain range in the northern part of Atlas." She then turned to Ruby and Weiss before smiling. "I'm Estelle Crowe, by the way, enchanting teacher here at the college."

"I'm Weiss Schnee, and this is Ruby Rose," she greeted her, gesturing to the reaper next to her that waved at the older woman.

"Ah yes, the princess," Estelle said, crossing her arms in front of herself before raising a hand to bite on her index fingernail while looking over Weiss. "I must say, you're different from what I had imagined. For an eighteen year-old, you have a rather… petite frame." Ruby couldn't help but let out a brief stifled laugh, causing Weiss to blush before glaring at her girlfriend.

"M-moving on," Ruby quickly interjected, taking a few cautious steps away from the princess while raising the pile of jackets in her hands to show her. "We need your help with enchanting these pieces of clothing. Logan told us you were willing to help us out."

"Of course, of course, bring those over here," Estelle told her as she grabbed the jackets to inspect them. Picking up Logan and Erdin's jackets, she looked at them for a moment before showing disappointment. "Hmm, boring cow leather with a fur lining. Rather mundane if you ask me." She lifted up Ruby's jacket and smiled. "Atlesian August Ram leather, now we're talking. Dyed red nevertheless with the oil from Vacuoan Tulsi Sage. Where did you get such a thing?"

"The leather was a reward from a trader we rescued a while back from doing a mission for the Adventurer's Guild," she answered her. "We didn't have much use for it, but eventually I made a jacket for the winter."

"Smart thinking," she said then placed down the jacket before picking up Mercury's and whistled. "Great Wolf leather with an everite chainmail underlay. Your friend must've spent a fortune on this jacket."

"What do you mean?"

"To put it simply, this jacket is as good, if not better than any breastplate the Atlesian Army will issue their soldiers. Plus, this high quality of materials enables me to put a much better enchantment on it than the boring leather," she told them then started walking around the room gathering various metals, potions, and crystals. "You see, when a mage enchants something, it mostly relies on the materials used and the material of the item being enchanted. Certain enchantments can be put on certain materials and general enchantments can be put on just about anything, though, higher quality materials allow for higher quality enchantments. Elemental enchantments can be put on just about anything, but they work out much better if the enchanter knows the element, like fire mages putting on fire enchantments would work out better than if an ice mage were to do it."

"And just how long is this going to take?" Weiss asked her, walking over to the glowing table as Estelle finished gathering materials and placed them on a nearby table.

"Well, unlike alchemy, this type of nitty-gritty magic requires only a few minutes. Though, speed decreases quality, and doing the enchantment wrong can be catastrophic. Luckily for you two, I'm a professional." She then grabbed a blue and red crystal off and slammed them into the glowing table causing them to shatter. "Now then, let's make some MAGIC!" Ruby instinctively reached over and held Weiss's hand as the two watched the older woman cackle manically while the materials on the glowing stable started to float.

* * *

"Let's never go there again," Weiss said, looking frazzled as she and Ruby walked from the enchanter's room.

"That was… intense," Ruby said while carrying the three other jackets before her attention was drawn to her red cloak. "I can't even begin to wonder what kind of process it was to enchant this chainmail."

"Considering that it was Miss Goodwitch who enchanted the chainmail, I'd guess it was a much calmer version than… that," she told her while gesturing back towards the enchanting room.

"Yeah, I could imagine flames shooting directly up from the glowing table without her even flinching," she said then looked at her jacket. "I miss my old chainmail."

"Hey, by the time we get back to the capital, the package of chainmail from your father should be there, as long as he actually decided to send it," she said, watching Ruby open the door to the stairwell.

"He'll send it, I'm sure of it," she told her while they started walking down the stairs. "Dad would never let me walk around without armor. I just hope he sends enough pieces so I can modify what I already have."

"I might've been easier to just request enough chainmail to make yourself a completely new set of that armor," Weiss commented. "If you just modify what you have, it'll make your armor weaker and more prone to breaking."

"No way, that would cost a small fortune. I don't want him to waste that much gold on me," she said as they reached the main hall and made their way outside, seeing the staircase down to the snow-covered plane.

"I'm sure he'd be willing to make the sacrifice," she said while they walked down the stairs, "but even if he didn't, I'd be wiling to pay for the chainmail."

"Must be nice being rich," Ruby muttered, turning to the side and puffing out her cheeks.

"I'd rather you be safe than rich any day," Weiss told her as they reached the bottom of the stairs, seeing Mercury wearing a thick coat, Emerald, and a short girl with black hair walking around an area. "Anyway, if I recall correctly, you are pretty well off with the reward money my father gave you for saving me."

"Yes, but I did spend a lot of it on… things," she said which only caused Weiss to reach over and grab her shoulder, turning the younger girl to face her.

"What did you spend your gold on?" she asked her, the malice her voice blatantly obvious. "With barely even half of the gold you had, you could've easily purchased a home in the capital to own and set up your own blacksmith shop."

"I'm not much of a blacksmith-"

"It was an example," she interrupted her.

"Hey!" Mercury shouted to get their attention. "Watch where you're walking!" He then pointed downward, gesturing for them to look down.

When the girls looked down, the saw they were one step away from walking on a blue sigil that was floating just above the snow. "You could've said something earlier!" Weiss shouted back at him as the girls quickly took a step back.

"Well, forgive me for not hearing you coming, princess," he said, walking over with Emerald and the small girl. "I'm only out here because these two insisted that we come out today to place solid illusions on the ground for the third years. You met Emerald the other day. This is her friend, Neo." At that, the smaller girl crossed her arms in front of herself and smirked, looking over Weiss and Ruby.

"Neo? I swear I've heard that name before," Weiss muttered to herself, causing the girl in question to look up at Emerald, only getting a quick glance in response before gesturing for her to look ahead. "Maybe I'm wrong."

"Hello," Ruby greeted Neo, leaning down slightly, which only caused the short girl to scowl at her. "Umm… is there something wrong?"

"No, she doesn't talk and doesn't like being short," Emerald said, causing Neo to divert her glare over to the red-eyed girl. "What? You nearly beat Mercury half to death when you first met him for making a comment like that."

"Yeah, don't remind me," he muttered with a nervous chuckle.

"You seem fine to me," Weiss remarked, looking over him. "How long ago did you meet them?"

"It doesn't matter, there are several apprentice healers, a couple adept healers, and one master healer. I think I could easily lose an arm and have it back the next day without a scar," he said then looked at his jacket held under her arm. "Oh, my jacket."

"We got them enchanted. Since yours was of higher quality, it has a much more powerful impact absorption enchantment on it than Logan and Erdin," Ruby said, handing him the black and grey jacket. He quickly removed the thick jacket he was wearing before pulling on his original one. "Why didn't you tell me that jacket has chainmail that makes it better than most armors?"

"Come on, Red, I gotta have some secrets," Mercury said with a smile while adjusting his coat. "Now all it needs is an enchantment to protect it from piercing and this old thing will be invincible." He then paused for a second before pointing at the other two jackets in Ruby's hands. "Don't you think you should be bringing those back to Logan and Erdin?"

"Oh, right, we should do that," Ruby said, turning to Weiss, but then turned to Mercury. "Is there anything else that you need to do out here, or do you want to come with us?"

"I think I'm going to stay out here for a bit," he told her, putting his hands in his pockets. "I mean, this is probably going to be the last time this area is going to be peaceful for a while."

"Alright then, but be back shortly, we'll need to regroup," Weiss said as she and Ruby started walking away.

"So," he said with a slight groan, turning to the girls after Ruby and Weiss walked up the stairs, "are you sure what you saw was right?" Neo looked up at him and nodded. "Now, that doesn't sound like Red. I mean, you saw her, she doesn't look like the kind of person who would break into the restricted section and steal something." She then tilted her head to the side before her hair shifted to green, then purple, black and red, and then back to black.

"She's right, looks can be deceiving," Emerald told him.

"Yeah, no. I don't think she's ever stolen a thing in her life, she probably wouldn't even know how."

"Merc, we went through all that work to get into the second floor. Neo had to sneak alongside your friend just to make it there, otherwise I'm sure some enchantment would've detected her on the stairs. We wouldn't go through all that and not remember every detail during the most pivotal point in our mission," she snapped at him before gesturing towards Neo. "If she says she saw the brat break into the restricted section of the library, then she did."

"Fine, fine," he said raising his hands in front of himself, "I'll check with Red and try to find out what she stole, but in the end, it doesn't matter as long as you managed to get the ritual book. Did you?" Neo simply smirked then snapped her fingers, causing a small bag to appear over her shoulder. "Was that an illusion, or was it teleportation?"

"Honestly, I don't know," Emerald answered him as they watched her dig through the bag and pull out a book with a black stone cover to show him. "We have the tome, which means we can get the final items required to begin the ritual. Now, we just need to get the blood mage into the college so he can absorb magic, unless you have a better idea."

"How about this, we don't let the dangerous blood mage that can absorb magic and use it against people into the building _filled_ with mages," he suggested.

"Don't worry, we have a precaution for that," she said then looked to Neo and nodded. The smaller girl smirked and waved her hand, causing a wave of magic to pass over the three of them.

Mercury staggered for a second before opening his eyes, seeing the familiar walls of their small hideout under the school. "Did I ever tell you how much I hate teleporting?"

"Quit complaining, you rarely have to go teleporting with her," he heard Roman say from the back of the room as he walked over to them. "We've been using Neo as our main form of transportation for the last year."

"Still makes me want to vomit," he said walking over to lean against the wall. "So, did you guys manage to get those collars?"

"Of course, we aren't amateurs," Roman said, walking over to a bag on a table near the wall that Mercury could swear wasn't there before. "Neo and I went back to Squall's Edge, met with Debra, and got those magic nullifying collars." Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulled out a vial of a purple liquid. "And this is sleeping liquid that I keep on me just in case I need to subdue someone. So, Neo will be hiding near the battle and throw the vial at the blood mage, it'll shatter and turn into a gas that will hopefully make him fall asleep. Once he's asleep, she'll teleport him here, so we can secure the collars around his neck. Then she will teleport us and the blood mage out of here. By the time anyone finds out what happens, we'll be off the continent."

"So, just like that? We fight him, let him snack on a few people, then kidnap him?" Mercury asked him then threw his head back in frustration. "This is such a bad idea."

"Well, do you understand the plan?" Emerald asked, walking over to him.

"Yeah, of course I do, the plan is simple enough."

"Good, because we're starting tonight as soon as Neo and I destroy the crystals giving the college its barrier," she said nonchalantly while turning around.

"Wait, what, tonight!?" he shouted as Neo flicked her hand, teleporting him to the men's dorm room. Cringing for a moment, Mercury couldn't help but vomit on the room's floor just as Logan and Erdin entered. "Son of a bitch."

"Hey, hey! If you're going to be sick, do it in the bathrooms or out the window," Logan told him as he and Erdin walked further in, keeping their distance.

"One more word, and I'm shoving that fire sword up your ass," Mercury warned him while wiping vomit from the side of his mouth.

* * *

Back in their quarters, Ruby and Weiss were preparing for bed. Weiss was sitting on the edge of their bed wiping the back of her neck with a wet rag, cleaning the dirt off of herself. Ruby was sitting on the other side of the room, reading the grey book while keeping it hidden from Weiss's sight.

"'-daracknas, tiinfelack. Tu felehaas. Nihaal, corehaas,'" Ruby whispered as she read an incantation from the book. She then had to stop herself and look up at Weiss, making sure she hadn't heard her, but as soon as she looked up at her, Weiss looked directly at her.

"What are you doing?" Weiss asked her, standing up and started walking over to her girlfriend.

"N-nothing," she stammered, quickly closing the book, and setting it beside her. "Just catching up on some reading."

"Ok, so what are you reading?" she asked, standing behind her, and reached for the book.

"I-It's a magic tome," she lied, quickly swiping Weiss's hand away from the book. "You don't want to read it."

"You should've said that sooner," Weiss told her as she took a step back from her. Then she could feel the same strange magical power coming from the book that she had sensed from Ruby the previous day, but this time it was fainter. "Regardless, we need to-"

She cut herself off as soon as she felt a strange pressure suddenly come over the room. Ruby then stood up, feeling the pressure as well, looking around the room for the source.

"What's going on?" Ruby asked her, picking up the grey book and holding it tightly in her hand.

"I don't know," Weiss said as she walked over to their room's window. "Hey, come over here."

"What's going on?" Ruby asked, walking over to the princess, only to stop as soon as she looked out the window.

They could see through the window that the glowing magical barrier surrounding the college had started to break up, slowly dispelling itself. Through the gaps in the barrier, both of them watched as a blizzard forced itself in and started encasing the school from the ground.

"Ruby, grab your gear, and fast. We need to get down there fast," Weiss told her as she started running to the counter where she kept her armor.

"On it," Ruby immediately answered, then quickly ran to the other side of the room where her armor laid. She threw on her enchanted coat before grabbing her boots and pulling them on. After that, she pulled her chestplate on, making sure it was secured before sliding on her gauntlets and skirt so she had her belt. Then she secured her crossbow to her belt and her scythe to her back before finally throwing her cloak around her shoulders.

After she finished, she ran over to the other side of the room, seeing that Weiss had just put on her chainmail suit. "Not a single word," she told her as she slipped on her boots before pulling on her skirt. After that, she pulled her chestplate and gauntlets on before grabbing her rapier. "We need to find the others."

"-roh DAH!" they immediately heard Logan shout, causing the building to shake.

"I have a feeling that it will be easier than I thought," she said then drew her magic hilt and created a second rapier blade.

"Let's go," Ruby said then threw open the door and was about to run out, only to step back at the last second to avoid crashing into several of the students. Shortly after, the hallway cleared, and the girls ran out, hearing the sounds of pained screams coming from down the hallway. Running down the hall, they made their way to the stairs, running down to reach the main gall.

Immediately, the girls saw the bodies of students scattered around the floor. Some of the bodies were simply laying in a pool of blood, but others had their necks ripped open and their heads bent in various directions.

In the middle of the room, the girls saw Mercury, Logan, and Erdin standing in a circle between the five statues with their weapons at the ready. Before the girls could run at them, they watched as the gangly man appeared in the middle of the group, twisting his body to hit the three men and throw them to the ground. He then walked over to Logan, grabbing his arm, and lifting him off the ground.

"Don't think you're going to bite on me again so easily," Logan grunted before reaching over to grasp the gangly man's shoulder and turned to face him. "Yol, toor SHUL!" They then watched as a blast of fire shot from his mouth, aimed directly at the gangly man, but before it connected, both of them disappeared. They then suddenly reappeared an instant later with the gangly man holding Logan in the path of his fire blast. After the fire cleared, everyone could see a steaming Logan hanging limp by his arm.

The gangly man then opened his mouth, becoming large enough to bite down on part of his face. "Put him down!" Ruby shouted as she bolted forward while drawing her scythe, spinning around before slamming the haft into the gangly man's back.

He immediately let go of Logan, dropping him to the floor before turning to Ruby. "You…" he said in his raspy voice while drool started to flow out of his mouth. "Pure… magic."

"Oh no," she managed to say before the man suddenly disappeared. Feeling her heart beat faster, Ruby watched as everything seemed to slow down for her.

She quickly got into a defensive stance with her scythe's blade twisted backwards. Remembering what happened during the fight outside, she pivoted on her right foot and began to swing her weapon while she turned, managing to slam the scythe's haft into the gangly man's side just as he appeared.

"Red!" Mercury shouted as he launched himself forward with his foot aimed at the blood mage, only to watch him disappear at the last second, causing him to slam his boot into the floor. "You managed to hit him."

"Ruby!" Weiss shouted as she way over to the group while Erdin dragged an unconscious Logan closer to them. She then reached over and held the sides of Ruby's face, checking her over. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, but what happened?" Ruby asked, looking over to Mercury and Erdin. Weiss then turned her attention to Logan, placing a hand over him before focusing her healing magic into him.

"I don't know," Mercury told her. "We were in our quarters when the barrier outside the school started to fail. Then we heard screams come from here and we came in moments before you did."

"He broke in and started attacking students," Erdin said, letting go of Logan as his eyes started to open. "We managed to get his attention while most of the remaining students escaped, but now we don't know if he's going to attack them."

"I think he'll be around here for a while," Ruby said as she looked around the area. "I don't know why he's not attacking, but he's going to be back."

"Great, then I can give him some payback," Logan grunted while standing up. "We do need a plan."

"I feel like we've been in this exact situation before," Mercury muttered before the gangly man appeared next to the group.

The gangly man then shot his hands off to the side, causing fire to coat them while wind started to pick up. He immediately thrusted his hands forward, sending a blast of fire into the group, hitting everyone except for Ruby, throwing them off to the side. She was about to launch herself at him, but the gangly man's hands started to crackle with electricity.

He disappeared just as her swing was about to hit him. Then she turned around to prepare for an attack from behind, but the gangly man reappeared where he was standing before. With his long arms, he reached forward, grasping her shoulder.

"Gah!" she shouted as electricity coursed through her body, forcing her to let go of her weapon and fall to her knees.

"Get away from my friend," she heard Penny's voice say from behind her. Turning her head, she saw a glowing Penny phase through the wall before she returned to normal. Then she pulled both hands back before thrusting them forward, throwing the gangly man back with a telekinetic blast.

"P-Penny, get out of here," she told her as Weiss ran over and began healing Ruby, making it so she could freely move.

"No, I'm going to fight," Penny said as the gangly man picked himself up and teleported. He reappeared a moment later right next to her, about to bite, but before he did, she began to glow causing the gangly man to phase right though her. She returned to normal just in time to place a hand against the man's chest, blasting him up in the air for a moment before teleporting away.

"Miss Polendina, please wait," they all heard Oobleck call out as he burst into the main hall. He was shocked at the sight of the dead bodies before he saw the others picking themselves up.

"Mister Oobleck," Weiss shouted to him as she helped Ruby get back to her feet. "The barrier failed, and the blood mage got in. We have to stop him right now."

"Oh dear, this is terrible," he said speeding over to the group. "Is everyone alright?"

"Well, I wouldn't classify myself as 'alright,' but I could've been worse," Logan groaned as he ran up to everyone. "Though, my bones are glad this jacket can absorb some impact."

"Guys, we need to deal with him right now," Ruby said as she stood up, ignoring the stiffness in her muscles. "Oobleck, can you make a barrier over this whole area once the mage reappears?"

"Certainly, but the larger the barrier, the weaker it is," he explained to her twirling his staff while the thicker end started to glow with green runes. "I will need a moment once he arrives, and he can't disappear."

"If he is hungry enough for magic, then we'll need to lure him to us," Weiss interjected then pointed to Ruby and Penny. "He's probably going to be interested in you two. As much as I don't like saying this, Penny, Ruby, we need you two to act as bait."

"Alright, we'll go over this way," Ruby said grabbing Penny's hand before leading her away from the group.

Just as the two were a short distance away from everyone, the gangly man appeared right behind Logan, grasping his shoulder. "Not again," Logan groaned just as the gangly man slammed a foot on the ground causing the entire building to shake, knocking everyone except Logan to the ground. The dragonslayer quickly jutted an arm back, slamming an armored elbow into the gangly man's gut. He then spun around, wrenching himself free. "Mul, qah DIIV!" The gangly man instinctively teleported away to avoid the attack, but nothing happened. Just as Logan's shout ended, glowing multi-colored scales appeared over his body, creating what appeared to be a suit of armor covering himself.

Then the gangly man reappeared, grabbing at Logan. He responded by bashing his shield forward, hitting the man in the chest before he wrenched the shield from his arm. Quickly swinging his sword, Logan was just about to hit him with the blade before the gangly man disappeared, reappearing a moment later beside Logan's sword arm, grasping his arm before dislocating his arm, forcing him to let go of the flaming sword.

"Son of a bitch," he cursed while clenching a fist with his good hand before looking at the gangly man. "Open up, motherfucker." In response, the gangly man's mouth opened unnaturally large as he let out a guttural roar. Before the roar finished, Logan thrusted his fist forward, straight into the man's mouth all the way down to his shoulder. The gangly man immediately bit down, but his teeth were only slowly penetrating the magic, not making spin contact. "Iiz, SLEN NUS!" The white blast of energy hit the gangly man, freezing him and Logan's shoulder solid. "Oobleck, Now!"

The scribe was still picking himself up from the earthquake, but he grabbed the haft of his weapon before slamming the thick end into the ground. A green sphere started at the end of the staff, but then started to expand, encompassing the entire area within the barrier. Then a net of green fire formed against the inside of the barrier.

"Quickly, children, we must subdue him," Oobleck called out as he watched the ice covering the gangly man start to crack.

Ruby picked herself off the ground, readying her scythe for an attack. Then everything seemed to slow down to her as she bolted forward. Hitting the gangly man in the abdomen, the ice shattered as she knocked him back, freeing Logan's arm. Following through with the attack, she thrusted the other end of the haft, hitting the gangly man further back towards the fire net. Just before she could hit him with a third attack, the gangly man teleported away, not giving her enough time to turn. So, just before she was about to collide with the fire net, she pivoted on her back foot, causing her back and cloak to hit the fire. After landing against the ground, she rolled to get away from the fire and put out any that might have caught on her cloak.

The gangly man reappeared next to the group and was about to attack, but Weiss launched herself forward at him with the magic blade aimed forward and her rapier off to her side. He coated his right hand in fire and was about to swing upwards, but she parried his attack with the magic blade before spinning around and scraping her rapier against the ground, freezing the gangly man's feet. Before he could attack her, she stabbed the ground at her feet, creating an angled ice column from the ground to use as a launch pad.

Mercury launched himself at the gangly man, hitting both his feet against the blood mage's chest, white and red lights flowed into his boots before he landed on the ground. Delivering a kick into the man's chest, a blast of fire shot forward, consuming the man in flames. Then switching feet, he slammed his other foot into the man's side causing ice to form, covering part of the man's torso from the point of impact.

Jumping off the ground, he narrowly avoided the gangly man's attack. While he was in the air, he slammed one foot into the back of the man's head causing a blue light to flow into his boots. Landing near the blood mage's side, he placed two hands and the uncharged boot on the ground before shooting his other boot into the gangly man. Immediately, a lightning bolt crashed into the man's leg, shattering the ice trap before a thunderclap resonated from his boot throwing him and the gangly man back.

Penny was standing in the path of the gangly man and he started to open his mouth to bite her, but she simply started to glow, and the man phased right through her. Once her glowing stopped, she raised a hand forcing the man to stop mid-air. She then moved her hand to the left, beginning to throw him into the fire net, but he disappeared before reappearing next to Penny. She glowed, causing the man's hand to pass right through her.

Roaring in frustration, he coated his hands in electricity before slamming them against the ground. Bolts of lightning arced from the ground, hitting Penny and throwing her back while forcing her to stop glowing. Recovering from the attack and looking at her now solid arms, she looked up at the gangly man before scowling.

She then clenched her fists before bringing them together. Pulling them to her right side, she shot her hands forward while opening her fists. Then a green bolt of energy shot from her hands, hitting the gangly man in the chest while throwing him back several feet.

Erdin ran forward, swinging his spear at the gangly man, managing to get a cut in before spinning his spear around and hitting him with the haft of the weapon. Once the gangly man stood up, Erdin stabbed the tip of his spear into the ground, using it as a pole to give himself momentum for kicking him in the back and throwing him forward a few feet.

Oobleck then sped at the gangly man, hitting him with an uppercut from the thick end of his staff causing a large blast of green fire to send him flying into the top of the barrier's fire net. Once the gangly man caught on fire, he fell to the ground causing the flames to spread over his body. It was then Oobleck saw the barrier begin to flicker.

"We need to subdue him now," he told the others, starting to run over to where the gangly man landed. "The barrier is failing."

"On it!" Ruby shouted from the side after picking herself up. She ran forward, raising her scythe preparing to attack the man. Stopping next to the gangly man, she was about to slam her weapon down, but he grabbed her ankle and pulled her down. Before she could do anything, a strange vial shattered against the ground, causing a purple cloud of gas to engulf both her and the gangly man. "What?" she asked before suddenly falling unconscious.

* * *

Everything was suddenly silent. Weiss watched as the purple gas cleared revealing that Ruby and the gangly man were nowhere to be found. Walking forward, she saw that only Crescent Rose remained on the ground. "No," she gasped as she looked around trying to see if Ruby was still there.

"What happened?" Logan asked while walking over to a nearby pillar before slamming his shoulder into it, resetting it. "Gah!"

"It would seem that they have disappeared," Erdin said as he pulled his spear from the ground.

"Thank you for that brilliant observation, oh perceptive one," Mercury said recovering from the thunderclap.

Oobleck stepped toward where Ruby and the gangly man were last seen. Sniffing the air, he raised an eyebrow. "Inekawa," he remarked before taking a step back. "Someone else was here."

Weiss dropped to her knees as she dropped her rapier and magic hilt to pick up Crescent Rose. Raising it to her chest, she couldn't help but feel as tears started falling down her cheeks. "Ruby…" she whispered, clenching the weapon tight.

* * *

When Ruby opened her eyes, she saw that she was not longer in the main hall, but in a room filled with dust covered bookshelves and magic artifacts. On the other side of the room, she saw the blood mage bound in rope with several metal bands around his neck. Trying to pick herself up, she could barely even move her arms, much less her legs.

"Oh, she's waking up," a voice said getting Ruby's attention. Managing to turn her head, she came face-to-face with the green eyes and orange hair of Roman Torchwick. "Little Red, Little Red, we meet again. As much as I'd rather you not be here, the blood mage just wouldn't let you go."

"You? How?" she asked him. "Why… are you here?"

"Well, that is the question," he said as he reached over and grabbed her hair to raise her off the ground. "You would not believe the kinds of things one can do with magic. Of course, we were sent here on a mission, one that, thanks to you, we were able to complete."

"We?"

"Oh, did you think I would come here alone?" He paused for a moment as he looked behind her and nodded. "Well, since we're not staying here any longer, you might as well know just who was part of this plan." Turning her around, Roman made her look at Emerald and Neo.

"You?"

"They have been part of my little entourage for a while now, and I'm sure you remember their part in kidnapping you the first time."

"What was your plan?"

"Cutting straight to the point, well, well, you haven't changed much. Though, at least you aren't challenging me to a fight," he chuckled then dropped her. "That's simply not I'm allowed to tell you, and as much as I'd like to get rid of you, Cinder has special plans for you. So, you live, for now." Walking away from her, Roman made his way over to the bound blood mage with Emerald and Neo following behind him. "Till we meet again." With one last smirk, she watched as Neo waved her hand, causing them to disappear.

* * *

After nearly an hour, the effect from the gas finally wore off, allowing Ruby to escape from the basement. Exiting the basement, she managed to find her way back to the main hall. She could see Gregor and Oobleck standing over a row of bodies covered in cloth. On one side of the room, she could see Mercury, Logan, and Erdin being healed with Penny standing behind them, looking at their wounds. As soon as she entered the room, her attention was drawn towards Weiss sitting in the middle of the hall, holding Crescent Rose close to her chest.

"Weiss," Ruby said, causing the people in the room to look in her direction. Weiss looked up at her, showing her the bloodshot eyes from crying. "Weiss!"

"Ruby?" she asked in disbelief as the younger girl started running towards her. She quickly reached her, falling to her knees to giver her a hug. Weiss quickly reached up and gave Ruby a tight hug. "You dunce, I thought you were gone."

"It's fine, I'm here," she told her, squeezing her tight. "I was brought to a place under the school."

"A place under the school?" a voice asked, causing Ruby to turn and see Gregor standing there with a concerned look on his face. "What are you talking about?"

"In the basement, very far down a hall, there's a room that seemed to be a sort of storage area that seemed sealed off," Ruby told him. "Emerald, Neo, and a criminal named Roman Torchwick were using that as a kind of base. I don't know why, but they kidnapped the blood mage."

"Power," Oobleck interjected, getting their attention. "I went to the library's second floor and found the restricted section's door opened. Going in, I found two books missing, and one of them involved an ancient ritual to summon spirits that requires a lot of power to perform. I can assume that they also were the ones who gave young Grant the blood magic tome."

"Well, that explains a bit, but where are they now?" Gregor asked looking to the side.

"I don't know, but to be honest, I just want to go home," Weiss said looking over to Ruby, getting a smile and a nod.

"That's not a bad idea," he said, turning to them. "With all that has happened, the college is not the safest place to be. We will rebuild, and changes will have to be made to make this a safer place to live."

"Umm, excuse me," Penny interjected, catching his attention. "If Ruby and the others are leaving, I want to go too."

"I'm afraid that's not-" Gregor was about to say before Oobleck grabbed his shoulder. "What?"

"I don't think that is very wise, old friend," the green-haired man told him. "She is still a Spirit of Curiosity, so she will leave sooner or later, especially now that she has a friend outside of this college. The school also isn't the best place to contain her, so might I suggest Court Mage of Atlas?"

"Hmm," he said, scratching his thick beard. "You might have a point. The only other mage I can think of that can properly handle her would be Samuel." He turned towards Ruby and Weiss, then to Mercury and the others. "I will let her travel with the five of you, just as long as you can take care of her and bring her straight to Samuel."

"I think we can handle travelling with one more person," Weiss said looked over to Penny, seeing the smile grow on her face. "As long as you provide her a horse, we won't be slowed down at all, and our first stop is the castle."

"Very well then, she can travel with you. She will have her own horse, and I will provide you with the magic items needed for her that you will need to give to Samuel," Gregor told them, causing Penny to run over to give him a brief hug before running over to hug Weiss and Ruby. "I will also give you a letter that will need to be delivered to the king. Feel free to leave as soon as you wish, but I would recommend stay for a night to recover."

"Thank you, Arch-Mage Gregor," Weiss said, getting a smile in response as the old man started walking away.

"Bartholomew, please follow me," he said nearing a hallway.

"What do you need?" Oobleck asked him, catching up to the man in an instant.

"It's about the ritual written in one of the stolen books," he told him. "The other book involves the silver eyes, so I need you to deliver a letter to my old friend Ozpin."

"I have been meaning to travel again, and Vale was my next destination," he said, following the old man a few paces behind, "but I do have to ask, what is the ritual?"

"You might as well know since you are now part of this, but the ritual detailed in one of the stolen tomes dictates how to summon spirits from the Fade, but if used incorrectly, I could possibly summon demons into the physical world," Gregor told him, turning to face the green-haired man. "If someone is trying to use the ritual now, then Ozpin needs to know."

* * *

 **In case you guys can't tell, I may have hit the fuck it point when writing this chapter. Trust me, there are many ways I could've handled this chapter, but I was not going to spend any more time on this arc that I don't have. This chapter has definitely been the worst one in a long time, I thought it was the one where Yang learned Ruby wasn't her sister, but I was wrong. I will be going back to fix this arc sometime probably after the 14th. I only did this arc to accomplish two things: get Weiss's summon working, and reveal that Salem's side is planning on summoning demons into the moral realm.**

 **Before someone brings this up, I do have to clarify about how summoning the demons works. I mentioned in a previous chapter how Penny came into the mortal realm and that the portal was open briefly. The type of spirit is different, but the concept is the same. Lots of magic power plus some other components equals temporary portals into the Fade.**

 **Anyway, onto the chapter, my original plan was for Emerald and Neo to trigger the attack when everyone was unprepared, so that was not part of the 'fuck it' point.**

 **Ruby has that magic book about the silver eyes, and she's going through some unusual lengths to keep it. Just to go on the record, Ruby is not possessed by the book. It's not that kind of thing, but it is tied to the silver eyes, hence the content.**

 **Gregor had his mind influenced by Emerald? Well, no. He had a thought put in the back of his head by both Emerald and Neo using high powered mind control magic over a long period of time. That would basically be the equivalent of firing a cannonball at a steel sheet, but only managing to create a small crack. Lots of power, but it doesn't yield much of a result. I know my analogy is off, but that's the idea.**

 **Roman made himself known to Ruby. while it wasn't exactly necessary, I felt that it was interesting because he is her main enemy, not Cinder, at least for now.**

 **Penny is coming back to the capital. Why? Well, I wasn't going to introduce a character that is important to the main character, only give her like less than five appearances, then get rid of her *cough* like the show *cough*. Anyway, who knows, maybe she's going to be part of the main group?**

 **So, next chapter, we can finally get to doing something I have been wanting to do for a long time... TEAM RWBY GETS BACK TOGETHER! I have been wanting to do that for such a long time. Honestly, the story has basically been just grit and drama since the siege. With the gang back together, I can go back to writing the story how it was before.**

 **Anyway, I hope I can have the next chapter done by the seventh. Then I can get to work on the chapter I want to get done for the fourteenth. If you need to know the significance of the fourteenth, just check the story description.**

 **Snapple Fact of the Chapter: Antarctica is the world's largest desert.**

 **It is five in the morning, and I have to get some sleep.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	86. The Reunion

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. I think this chapter actually felt a lot like the old ones. I don't know, I enjoyed writing it.**

 **Reviews**

 **bankerrtx01: That depends. If you want to play a game that feels like a D &D game with cool characters and a great story, go with Dragon Age Origins. If you want to play an RPG game that has an underlying story about family and trying to build a home, go with Dragon Age 2. Dragon Age Inquisition is a fine game to start with if you just want to play a more modern game with fast paced action and a good story, go with Inquisition. While I thoroughly enjoy Inquisition and use a bunch of elements from that game in my writing, Dragon Age Origins is probably my favorite. So, I suggest going with that one.**

 **RedShirt1453: Oh, I know I haven't done the same-sex relationships as well as the lore of my world would reasonably work. There are multiple solutions to the Bumbleby problem you brought up. Two of them I have on hand are: the relationship is completely one sided and Blake and Yang never get together, another is they do get together after a VERY long time and Yang starts to develop feelings for Blake. At this point in the story, Blake is developing feelings, but she doesn't exactly know she is feeling towards Yang.**

 **k wolf omega: yeah, sorry about forcing you to read the not so epic end of that arc. I do fully intend to fix the arc, but that will be after I do the next chapter.**

 **Xyander64: I mean, I did end 83 with the cliffhanger about how Penny was a spirit, so I couldn't start the next chapter with something different. Qrow bomb won't be for a while. They still have to drop the Adam bomb.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: I thought it was very obvious. I don't think I'm going to run into that problem again. If I kept going at my current pace and with my original plan for the next chapter, it was going to be another fuck it point. So, I changed my plan and the next chapter is going to flow better.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"Mister Black, Miss Rose," they heard their captain greet them as they entered his room followed by Weiss, Penny, Logan, and Erdin. Facing the window on the other side of the simple room stood a man with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail wearing an Atlesian Knight armor over a long brown coat. "This is the first time we've had the pleasure of meeting. My name is Richard Wright and-" he turned to look at them only to freeze at the sight of the four others, "I… see you are not alone." He turned to Weiss and bowed. "Princess."

"We only just got back, so we had to report," Mercury said as they walked further into the room, stopping just behind his desk before gesturing towards Logan and Erdin, "and these two insisted on coming along."

"We were essential in our last mission-" Logan said only to be stopped by Mercury taking a step at him.

"You two were barely even there during our visit to the college," he told him before pointing at Penny, "and she just seemed to show up completely out of nowhere. Then everything seemed to move so fast, almost like it was rushed by some outside force, which I guess must've been Emerald and Neo's fault, but still, the whole thing felt wrong."

"Does he always do this?" Penny asked, turning to Ruby.

"He's always been a bit of a cynic," Ruby answered her.

"He does have a point," Richard told them as he walked over the group and looked at Logan and Erdin. "You two are not part of the Royal Guard, therefore, there is no reason for you to be here. I suggest reporting to your new captain, she's been here since Brynn's death, and I'm sure she has work for you."

"We'll take our leave then," Erdin said as he nodded to Richard before turning to Weiss. "Princess, it has been a pleasure travelling with you." He quickly bowed to her and started walking towards the door, only to stop for a moment and tap Logan's shoulder. The dragonslayer simply grunted while he glared at Mercury, then left the room.

The captain walked in front of his desk before leaning against it. "Mister Black, Miss Rose, Princess Weiss, and… friend?" he said raising an eyebrow while gesturing towards Penny. "Who is this?"

"This is Penny, she's from the magic college, and she's going to be under the court mage's watch from now on," Ruby told him.

"Salutations," she greeted him as she waved at the older man.

"Well then, she's going to be bored for at least a day," he told them then lowered his hand. "Samuel left with Jacques to go to a noble house outside of the capital to ensure safe travel for Princess Winter and her knights into the city."

"Wait, why would Winter need safe travel into the city?" Weiss asked, taking a few steps towards him. "What's going on?"

"It is a miracle you actually made it to the castle when you came here today," he said with a chuckle. "The situation here in the capital is more serious than we previously imagined. Rumors have been circulating around the capital that members of the royal family are mages, and while that is true, we would prefer to keep it a secret. Due to those rumors, there has been a lot of unrest in the civilian population causing tensions to rise. There have been several murders of suspected mages in the city, and we believe this to be the work of what our spymaster describes as, 'a psychopathic murderous cult of lunatics,' which is an apt description based on what I've seen."

"It's been over three months, I thought the Spymaster was supposed to be able to take out threats in a month at maximum," Mercury said as he walked over to the side of the room and leaned against the wall.

"That is true, but this is more complex than a small uprising by civilians," he told him. "As far as we can tell, Brynn was a low-ranking member in this cult, but was essential in the assassination plot. So, we only had little information going in, which meant that our spies had had some difficulty infiltrating that organization."

"So, what are we going to do?" Ruby asked him. "Should we go into the city and search for this cult?"

"No," he immediately answered. "You two are part of the princess's personal guard. You are to stay on castle grounds unless ordered otherwise."

Immediately, the door to the office was thrown open and a man in a hooded jacket ran in carrying a folded piece of paper. "Captain, there's been a situation," the courier said running over to Richard and handing him the paper.

The captain unfolded the piece of paper and read it before pinching the bridge of his nose and groaning. "J'vana be damned," he muttered then looked up at Ruby and Weiss. "You two need to go to the city's jail, now. Mister Black, you stay here and give me a full report on the altercation that occurred at the college."

* * *

A Valean passenger ship slowly reached the harbors of the capital city of Atlas. Shortly after docking, a woman with a blonde ponytail and her right arm in a sling disembarked the ship followed by a black-haired woman with a black bow in her hair and her left arm in a sling.

"I am so glad to be on solid ground again," Yang said as she slung her bag over her shoulder with her good arm. "Next time we take a ship, let's make sure it's a short voyage."

"I'm sure Bumblebee and Nightmare would appreciate that," Blake agreed while she looked back at the ship and watched the sailors lead their horses out. "I'm also not the biggest fan of travelling over water." She walked over to the men and took the horse's reins before following Yang. "So, are we going straight to the castle, or are we going to find an inn first?"

"Blake, come on, we're going to the castle first. It's been almost a year and a half, so I'm not going to wait any longer to see Ruby," she said, taking her right arm out of the sling to give her a thumbs up only to cringe as the sudden pain hit her arm. She quickly put her arm back in her sling then groaned from the pain. "All the more reason to meet up with her."

"Is part of the reason you want to meet up with them so soon is to have Weiss heal you?"

"If it happens, it happens," she said with a shrug as they started walking down the street.

The stone and lumbar buildings were significantly different from the buildings on Patch. A large majority of the buildings had what appeared to be a storefront below multiple levels, each with their own balconies. Yang could only marvel at the intricate glasswork on many of the buildings' windows while they walked down the cobblestone's streets.

"Blake, come see this, I've only heard of the Atlesain capital's architecture, but to see it in person," Yang said as she looked around at the buildings. "That's right, you've been here before. So, you wouldn't be as interested in the architecture coming here again."

"Well, my first visit wasn't exactly the greatest experience, and it was at night, so I didn't pay much attention to the buildings," she told her while they both turned a corner, continuing down the winding road. "Though, I didn't know you were so interested in architecture."

"Architecture, artistry, blacksmithing, and craftsmanship in general. You should see the dragon design I have under the grip of my ōdachi. It's actually the same design I put on all my work; I'm sure Ruby still hasn't found the one I put on Crescent Rose's haft."

"Did you-"

"Put small dragons on each chain link of your kusarigama because I was bored?" she interrupted as she turned back for a moment and smirked. "You'll just have to check to be sure." Part way down the street, Yang suddenly stopped then looked around the empty street. "Do you happen to know where we are?"

"No… I don't," Blake said, looking around the streets before scowling at Yang. "We've only just arrived, and you already managed to get us lost."

"I've been following you."

"You're in front of me!"

"Hey! Will you two quit bickering!" a voice shouted as four men entered the street from a side alley. The men each wore dark tunics and were wielding maces. "Honestly, I've seen some loud tourists in my time, but you two would not stop talking."

"Blake, I thought you were supposed to be keeping watch for threats," Yang told her while placing the bags on Bumblebee's saddle. "We just got here and we're getting mugged."

"Don't try and pin this on me, we wouldn't be in this situation if you didn't get us lost."

"Hey, do you not even care about the danger you're in?" the man asked them as they started to approach. "Your gold or your life?"

"Wow, what a cliché line. Blake, do you wanna help, or should I take care of this on my own?" Yang asked, reaching up to the large sword on her shoulder with her left hand.

"Just don't kill them," she groaned as she reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Fine, I'll use my sheath," she told her then pulled on the sword up, then to the left before pushing down, unhooking the weapon from her back.

Before the man could say anything, Yang bolted forward and swung her sword at the first man, hitting him in the abdomen and knocking back several feet to the ground. Pivoting on her foot, she brought her sword back then swung it downward at the second man. He managed to bring his mace up to block the attack, but the large sword shattered the weapon and hit him in the head, knocking him out.

The third man swung his mace at Yang, but she stepped back to avoid the strike. She quickly dropped the ōdachi and thrusted her fist forward, hitting the man in the solar plexus. The fourth man attacked her, but she punched his hand, breaking his fingers, forcing him to drop the weapon. She then reached forward with the palm of her hand before throwing him into the wall. Bolting forward, she punched him in the nose, throwing his head into the wall, knocking him out.

"All of that with one hand," Yang said with a smirk as she flexed her left arm. "I haven't lost my edge."

"Please, if you used just your fists, you would've finished that fight much earlier. An ōdachi is meant to be used with two hands, so using one would make the strike slower. I'm honestly surprised you didn't throw a fireball at them," Blake told her as she watched Yang pick up her sword and secure the sheath to her back. Her bow then twitched, causing the faunus to quickly let go of the horses' reins before raising her good hand in the air. "Yang, put your hand in the air. We're about to be arrested."

"What?"

"Halt!" they heard a woman shout as ten city guards wearing full suits of armor entered the alley being led by a woman with long blonde hair in a bun wearing a breastplate underneath a long blue coat with white trim. "You two, put your hands in the air and step away from those men!"

"Hey, they attacked us, we were just defending ourselves," Yang defended them, taking a step forward and holding her left hand in front of Blake.

"While I do not doubt that, there are four men laying in the street, probably with headaches I don't want to imagine. So, until those men are conscious and able to give a proper statement, you two are coming with us," the woman told them then looked at Blake and Yang's arms and sighed. "Owen, Matthew, escort these ladies to the jail. Frederick, bring their horses along. The rest of you, carry these men to the jail and put them in a separate holding cell."

"Captain," one of the men said as he nodded to her before walking over to the unconscious men.

"We don't have time for this, we're supposed to be-"

"Yang, it'll be fine, we can meet with Ruby and Weiss later," Blake quietly interjected as she grasped Yang's arm.

"Fine, we'll go, but this can't take very long," Yang said to the captain, causing her to roll her eyes before gesturing for her men to move out.

* * *

"So, what's going on?" Weiss asked the city guard's captain as she, Ruby, and Penny entered the city's jail.

"We picked up these two women in an alley that is notorious for muggings during one of our patrols," the captain told her as she stood straight with her hands behind her back. "They apparently knocked the muggers, but we had to take them in to confirm their story and until the suspected muggers woke up. After the fifth hour, the blonde woman started to get pissed and started yelling, saying that they were friends of yours and your personal knight here. Then, at one point, I swore her eyes suddenly turned red."

"Blonde woman, red eyes?" Weiss asked turning to Ruby before looking to the captain. "The other woman, describe her."

"Black hair, amber eyes, and a black bow."

"Your key," Weiss demanded, holding out her hands. The captain quickly handed her the key, which she immediately handed Ruby. "Go."

Ruby immediately ran past the front desk and into the holding cells. Running past several drunk men in cells, then past a cell with four unconscious men, and finally to the end of the hall. As soon as she saw the residents of the last cell, she froze.

Sitting in the cell was her sister and Blake. Yang was wearing a simple yellow tunic, had her right arm in a sling, and had her long hair tied in a ponytail. Blake was wearing a black tunic and had her left arm in a sling with her shoulder bandaged up.

"Yang!" Ruby exclaimed as she ran up to the cell door.

"Ruby!" Yang shouted then ran over to the door as Ruby unlocked the cell door.

She threw open the door and immediately jumped onto her sister, wrapping her arms around the blonde's neck. Yang then reached over and hugged Ruby with her good arm. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too," she said as she squeezed her tight before suddenly cringing. "Ruby, I don't want to let you go, but my arm still hurts."

"Oh, sorry, sorry," Ruby apologized while she jumped back, looking at her sister's arm. "I-it's just, I haven't seen you in such a long time, and with everything that's been going on, I've just been wanting to see you, and, and-"

Before she could continue, Yang stepped forward and wrapped an arm around Ruby's shoulder to pull her into another hug. "It's okay, I'm here now," she told her as she began to stroke her hair, then felt the small ponytail. "Are you growing your hair out?"

"Yeah," she said with a chuckle, pulling back from Yang, and wiped away her tears. "I've been trying out a new look. I see you're doing the same."

"It helps me with my new weapon," Yang smirked, immediately seeing Ruby's eyes light up. "I'll show it to you as soon as we're free to go."

"You're free to go," Weiss said with a smile on her face, walking over to the cell with Penny behind her. "Perks of being a princess means I can pardon people, and you didn't really commit a crime, so…"

"Weiss, it's good to see you," Yang smiled, turning to face her while still holding onto Ruby.

"Blake," Weiss greeted her, giving her a nod, "it's nice to see you."

"Likewise," Blake nodded.

"Hey, if it wouldn't be any trouble," Yang interjected, catching the princess's attention. "We've had these injuries for a while, but they're really inconvenient. Do you think you can-"

"Of course," Weiss said, walking into the cell. "Honestly, just what kind of fight did you two get into?" Yang then watched as Weiss walked right past her and over to Blake before placing a glowing hand on her shoulder. "I can already tell these wounds are pretty old and partially healed. There will be a scar and possibly some permanent damage."

"How serious of damage?" Blake asked her then cringed from the shoulder suddenly healing.

"Well, I wouldn't suggest relying on fighting only with your left hand, but otherwise, you should be fine," she told her as she removed her hand and moved over to Yang. Placing her hand on the brawler's arm, she began to channel her healing magic into the old wound. "Your arm is already healed for the most part, and your wound wasn't as serious as Blake's, so you'll be fine. Though, you might feel sore occasionally."

"Thank you," Yang said then used both her hands to hug her sister.

"So, are you going to tell us what happened to you two?" Weiss asked her as she watched the sisters refuse to let each other go.

"Later, let's just enjoy this moment," Blake said causing Weiss to sigh and walk further into the cage to sit down next to her. "Also, who is she? She's been staring at us for a while." Weiss raised an eyebrow at her, but the faunus gestured towards Penny who was simply staring at the four of them in the cell.

"That's Penny... you'll get used to her."

* * *

 **AND THE GANG IS BACK TOGETHER! WHOOO!**

 **Of course Yang gets arrested as soon as they get into Atlas. Blake and her have some actual BANTER which I have been wanting to do for a while.**

 **Ruby and Weiss get to hang out with Penny for a few days. I have a few shenanigans planned for the three of them, also some with Bumbleby.**

 **Ruby and Yang get back together. I have been wanting to do this for a LONG time. Nobody can break their hug. Now, just how long until Yang tells Ruby what she knows about Qrow and Summer.**

 **Blake and Yang have been healed. What? Did you think I would bring them together and not have Weiss immediately heal them? Of course I also needed to show just how effective healing magic can be. The shorter the time between the wound and the healing, the better. Scars still form though.**

 **Oh, I need to do a quick announcement before doing anything else with the AN. In previous chapters I referred to the capital as Franwell, but that was back when I had the mentality of 'I can drop this story anytime. I can just make up a name if I want to.' So I went with Franwell, which in retrospect, is a really dumb name.**

 **I am going to be going back throughout the entire story and removing all the times I referred to the capital as Franwell and replacing it with either 'the capital' or the 'City of Atlas' because apparently in the show Mantle is the name of a city in Atlas, but I kind of used that for a fortress.**

 **So, anniversary chapter on the fourteenth. I plan on making it another long one, but it might not be _as_ long as the last one. I'm going to spend six days writing it, so we get to have some fun since half of it is still part of my spring break.**

 **Snapple Fact of the Chapter: All Scorpions Glow.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


	87. The Second Anniversary Chapter

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A with the 2nd year anniversary chapter of The Princess and the Rose. Almost immediately from the notification, I'm sure you can already tell that this is different from last year's anniversary chapter. Mainly that it's shorter, and there's a good reason for that. Time restraints. I actually had a very long chapter that was supposed to set up a lot for this arc, but then I had to scrap most of what I had, then start over. Then two days I couldn't write because of school and previous engagements. So then I realized that I knew exactly what I needed to do for this chapter, and did it. So this isn't six chapters mashed into one about a life or death scenario, it's more like two chapters and a more happy scenario.**

 **I'll get to the reviews so you can read the story.**

 **FeartheKnown: Hell yeah they are!**

 **bankerrtx01: I believe that it's on both platforms as well as PC. I know for sure it's on Xbox because that's what I play it on, and I did by the first game on steam with all the DLCs.**

 **Yakosh: Yeah, so I'm probably going to go back and change 'Franwell' mentions to either Atlas, the city of Atlas, or just the capital.**

 **Commandant Luna: Yeah, I just said that because the college arc was a bit of a dip in quality, and I've said before that the harshest critic that a writer can have is themselves. I don't think you want to give Cruel Van any encouragement, he is already excited for particular moments during this arc.**

 **Xyander64: Of course I'm bringing J'vana back. It'll give me an excuse to suddenly increase the plot or make certain scenarios happen. They're gonna get into a decent amount of trouble.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: Yeah, I needed to explain healing otherwise it might seem as too broken of a mechanic in this universe. Penny is going to be more of a jumpscare for comedic effect.**

 **MageTGM: I'll be including many more fight scenes during this arc. This should be the last chapter of non-action. Ruby is going to be getting her moments. I also have a thing planned for JNPR that's hopefully going to come out at the end of this arc. Since I don't want to go into five or six chapters of JNPR that a lot of people might skip, they're going to have an extremely long chapter telling a full arc.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

"You're sure that he's back?" Weiss asked Yang and Blake as the group sat around their room in the Frozen Marigold inn. Pacing around the room, her eyes quickly darted around the room. "It wasn't just someone pretending to be Adam, right?"

"We're sure about this," Blake answered, holding her hand to stop it from trembling. "I know it was Adam. I was with him for years. You, of all people, should know it's hard to forget what he looks like."

"But we watched him die," she told her, pointing between Ruby and herself. "I killed him myself by cutting off his head. He was dead."

"Yes, but he was resurrected and turned into a revenant," Yang said as she pulled out a small journal. "Dad gave us this this journal filled with all his knowledge about revenants and other forms of undead."

"And dad's fine, right?" Ruby asked, taking a step towards Yang.

"He's fine, the attack on Patch killed some people, but dad was fine. He saved us from Adam and scared him off," she told her as she walked over and placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder. The others couldn't tell, but Blake saw the slight pained look pass over Yang's face.

"Adam still has his enchanted sword," Blake interjected, causing Yang to let go of Ruby and take a step back. "Since he's an undead now, he can't use his own blood, which means he needs someone else's blood to activate the enchantment. He also can't die by normal methods; a revenant can only die by destroying the head, so simply cutting it off won't kill him."

"Do you think he's coming here to finish what he started?" Weiss asked them.

"No, while revenants keep their mind and can act on their own, they have to serve their master's purpose," she told her as she opened up the small journal. "We believe that Cinder resurrected him, and since he attacked Patch by himself, he has no White Fang backing him. With the capital being a walled city with no grimm grounds nearby, it is highly unlikely he'll attack here directly."

"So, we're safe, for the time being at least?"

"It's highly unlikely, but there is still the possibility. Though, he didn't attack us while we were on the ship, so he didn't follow us to Atlas."

"That's reassuring," she muttered then walked over to the window and sighed. "We can bring this information to Ironwood and the Spymaster and they can prepare a plan much better than we can." Looking out of the window, Weiss could see the setting sun before turning to the occupants of the room. "It's getting late. Ruby, Penny, and I should return to the castle soon before Wright sends out a search party."

"We're coming too," Yang said as she walked over to the side of her bed and picked up the bag containing her armor. "Since we're going to be in Atlas for a while, we might as well visit the castle."

"Well, civilians aren't exactly allowed on castle grounds," Ruby told her, looking over to the two, "but Weiss and I could probably convince the guards to let you in."

"And I am a noble," Weiss interjected as she pulled her cloak's hood over her head, "so they will have to listen to me."

"Then it's settled, let's go," Ruby said then looked to the back of the room. "Penny, come on."

"Where-" Blake asked before suddenly jumping back at the sight of Penny silently standing there, staring at them. "How long have you been there?"

"I've been here since we first arrived," Penny said then tilted her head to the side. "Was I supposed to be somewhere else?"

"Penny, you're fine," Ruby reassured her before turning to Blake and Yang who were now backing up from the orange-haired girl. "She's able to walk through objects and she's pretty quiet."

"That's… unsettling," Yang said then looked to Ruby and Weiss. "We should… probably leave."

"Agreed," Blake said, picking up her bag and headed to the door, "but I don't think I should be spending much time on the castle grounds, considering my… history there."

* * *

Shortly after they left the inn, the five of them started quickly making their way through the winding streets. Weiss led the group with Blake was behind her, trying to avoid Penny's curious gaze, but ultimately failing. Ruby was walking with Weiss, but after a while she fell to the back of the group with Yang.

"So, now that we somewhat have time to ourselves," Yang said to her sister, catching her attention as they followed the others, "how have you been?"

Ruby sighed. "I've been fine. Work as a member of the castle guard was tough, especially since my former captain had a grudge against me," she told her as she looked over to her left hand and clenched it. "He was a bad man. He hired an assassin to kill Weiss, Mercury, and me during her test."

"What!? I'll kill him!"

"Yang, he's already dead," she said, trying to calm her down.

"You didn't kill him, right?"

"No, no, after he was found out, I tried to bring him in," she assured her, causing Yang to breathe a sigh of relief, "but he fought me and actually managed to cut my eyebrow in the scuffle." Without even looking, she could feel her sister's concerned gaze. She turned to face her, brushing back her bangs to show her sister the small scar that split her eyebrow. "I'm fine. He was about to fall of the roof, and I tried to pull him back up, but he stabbed me in the hand before letting go and falling to his death. Afterwards, Weiss healed me, so I'm perfectly fine."

"That still doesn't change the fact that someone tried to kill you."

"He was actually trying to kill Weiss, but I had to stop him, no matter the risk," Ruby told her as she looked up and saw the group slowing down. "What's going on?"

"Something happened up ahead," Blake answered her, gesturing towards the large crowd ahead that was being held back by members of the city guard. "I'm sure there's a different road we can take."

"Though, this is the one that brings us to the main road to the castle," she said then looked over to Penny, seeing her panicked expression. "Penny, what's wrong?"

"She's so scared, and sad," she answered her, raising a hand up to cover her mouth.

"Is she also an empath?" Yang asked Weiss, looking at Penny.

Ignoring the brawler, Weiss grabbed Ruby's arm and pulled her ahead to the crowd before looking to the group. "Come on," she said gesturing for them to follow. Making their way through the crowd, Weiss confronted the closest guard. "What happened here? Let us through."

"I'm sorry, miss, but there's been an incident. I can't let anyone through, captain's orders," he told her, raising his hands in case he had to push her back.

Ruby stepped forward and pulled an Atlesian Knight symbol from her pocket and showed the man before leaning in and whispering, "I'm Ruby Rose of the Royal Guard, and you seriously should know who she is," she gestured towards Weiss who pulled back her hood slightly to show him her face. "Now, let us through. Is your captain here?"

"Of course, and yes, she's here," he quickly said, backing up to let the group through. "If you're going into the alley, prepare yourself, it's pretty gruesome."

"We'll keep that in mind," Weiss told him as they walked into the alley and approached the knights. Nearing the scene, Penny slowed down and looked at the group of knights before her eyes drifted to an empty space nearby.

In the middle of the small circle of knights was a brown-haired woman no older than sixteen laying in the street. The first thing they saw was that her eyes had been burned out and replaced with hot coals. Her arms were outstretched with her wrists slit along with her neck having a deep cut all the way down to the bone. Her abdomen was exposed, showing the group a brand in the shape of a dragon's head burned into her skin.

At seeing the dead body, Blake could feel her pulse start to speed up and her hands began to tremble. She began breathing heavily, so she quickly stepped back and placed a hand on her chest before leaning against the wall, sliding down to sit on the ground. Yang saw this and immediately sat down next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down.

Weiss gasped at the sight and stepped back before grabbing her girlfriend's arm. Ruby instinctively reached over and put hand over Weiss's. They held each other for a moment before quickly letting each other go.

"This is the fifth one this week," the captain remarked as Weiss and Ruby approached, catching her attention. "Princess, what are you doing here?"

"We were headed to the castle when we saw the commotion," Weiss answered then looked over to the woman's body. "What happened here?"

"It's the Cult of the Dragon again," the captain told her and gestured towards the dead body. "They're a secretive cult that over the past few months started killing suspected mages and dropping their bodies in the street as some sort of message. We've found very little information on them, and so far, the only thing we can do is try and prevent a panic."

"Captain, there's something unusual here," one of the knights said, getting their attention. "It seems like there's a piece of paper in her mouth." Reaching down, he carefully opened her mouth and pulled out a folded piece of paper before handing it to the captain.

She opened the piece of paper and read it before handing it to Weiss. "You're going to want to see this."

"What does it-" she asked, only to gasp at the words. Letting go of the paper, she turned around and started walking towards Penny, Yang, and Blake. "We need to go."

"What did it say?" Ruby asked her as she picked up the piece of paper and read it. _'Princess Schnee, we know what you are. We're everywhere, always watching. The Frozen Marigold is a fine establishment, isn't it?'_ Stuffing the piece of paper into her pocket, she immediately ran after her girlfriend. "Yang, Blake, what do you have left at the inn?"

"Some of our supplies on our horses, why?" Yang asked, looking up at the two.

"Captain," Weiss said, getting the captain's attention. "The cult had spies near the Frozen Marigold recently. We are going back there to retrieve my friends' gear and horses, then we are going straight to the castle."

"You will need an escort then," the captain told her as she followed the girls. As soon as they reached the street, she pointed at five knights. "You five, follow us. We're to provide an armed escort for these five to the Frozen Marigold. Once we are there, you will investigate the area for suspicious activity relating to our situation."

"Yes, ma'am," the five said as they started to follow the group.

"What's going on?" Yang asked them, getting up to follow them.

"You and Blake are in danger, so we're taking you to a safe place," Ruby answered her. "A cult that has been spying on Weiss, and they know where you're staying."

"A cult? Whatever they think they can do, we can handle them."

"No, Yang, we can't," Weiss told her, nearly snapping at the blonde. "In the time that we left the inn, these magic hating lunatics found out which roads we were going on, then went ahead, and dropped a woman's body in an alley long enough to draw a crowd and the city guard. We've spent too much time in the city, so until we can find out what's going on, we're staying in the castle."

Yang turned to Blake. "Are you fine with staying at the castle?" she asked her. "I know you don't have the best… history with the place."

"I'll be fine," Blake said, looking off to the side, avoiding Weiss's gaze. "If these people are really after mages, then it would be best if you were behind the walls of the castle."

"Alright then, let's go."

* * *

"So," Yang said as she and Ruby walked into the stables the morning after they returned to the castle, "we haven't had any real time to ourselves since Blake and I got here."

"Yeah, but I mean, with everything that's been happening, I didn't expect us to have time alone with each other for a while," Ruby told her as she made her way over to Chestnut's stable. "Though, to be honest, I didn't expect you to come here in person. I expected at least a letter. Good work on learning to read and write, by the way."

"Thanks, Blake is a good teacher, but I still sometimes have trouble reading the complicated books Goodwitch gave me." She then grabbed a pitchfork before throwing a small pile of hay into Bumblebee's stable. "So, how have you been fighting without your chainmail?"

"It's been a little difficult. I haven't been able to take as many hits as I used to, but it doesn't matter if they can't hit me. Then there's Mercury, who has been a good fighting partner," she said then moved some hay into her horse's stable.

"Who's Mercury?"

"He's my friend, and another member of the royal guard. He actually reminds me a lot of you, considering he's also a close combat fighter, though, he prefers to kick instead of punch," she answered her then moved over to Snowflake's stable and started throwing hay into the stable. "He's actually one of the few people who has been one my side here. He even defended me when my old captain tried to get me suspended from duty."

"He sounds like a nice guy. Are you sure he's not trying to go after you?" she asked her while throwing hay into Nightmare's stable, then dropped the pitchfork before crossing her arms and leaning against a nearby post.

Ruby immediately burst out laughing, confusing her sister while she tried to regain her composure. "No, no, he's not like that," she said as she braced against one of the stables. "Anyway, I have Weiss. Mercury's more like an older brother if anything."

"You replaced me?" she asked her, overdramatizing her shock. "I knew you always wanted a brother."

"What? No!" she immediately answered her. "Nobody can replace you. You're my sister."

Yang fell silent at that remark, turning away from Ruby and looking down. "Umm… well, about that," she said, causing Ruby to raise an eyebrow at her as her hands started to tremble. Looking at her, she took a deep breath and sighed. "I'm just glad we're back together."

Ruby quickly dropped her pitchfork than ran over and hugged her sister. "I'm glad too," she said while burying her head in Yang's shoulder. "I've really needed to talk to someone, for a long time, and the only one I've been able to talk to was Chestnut. She's a good horse, but she doesn't really talk back." Chestnut looked over at her and huffed in response.

"What's been going on?" she asked her as they broke the hug.

"Well… it's just… Weiss and I have been together for over a year, and I've been thinking about maybe taking the next step," she said, looking off to the side and blushing. While Yang was still confused, Ruby reached into her side pouch and pulled out the small velvet bag before handing it to her sister.

Opening the bag, Yang gasped at the sight of the gold rings before looking at her sister. "You mean that you- Don't you think- I mean… wow," she managed to say after realizing what Ruby meant. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Yang, I'm sure," she told her, taking back the velvet bag. "I've been sure that I wanted to propose to her since I forged these rings months ago."

"If you've been sure about this, what's been stopping you?"

"I've just never found the right time to do it," she said, placing the bag back in her side pouch, "and now that you're here, I thought that I could talk with you about it."

"What's there to talk about?" she asked her, crossing her arms in front of herself. "Clearly, you've thought this over, and came to a decision."

"But… what if I can't do it?" she asked, turning around to look away from Yang. "I've tried to propose before, but each time I tell myself that it's not the right time. Each time, something is always happening with Weiss and I just can't distract her. I thought that I could propose after we got back to the capital, but then this cult is going after Weiss. I just… don't know if I can do it."

"Ruby, look at me," Yang said, watching her slowly turn around, still looking down. She then reached over and held Ruby's shoulders, causing the younger girl to look up at her. "You love Weiss. I know it, Blake knows it, and most importantly, Weiss knows it. If you're trying to wait for the perfect moment, don't. If there's anything that we can be sure of, it's that our lives will never have a natural perfect moment of peace. There's always going to be something happening. So, you have to make your own perfect moments."

"But Weiss-"

"Will say yes, trust me," she told her, pulling Ruby into a comforting hug. "You love her, and she loves you. That's all that should matter."

"Thank you, Yang," she said, reaching up to squeeze Yang tight before pulling back, "and you're right. I think I've been stalling long enough."

* * *

"Has the castle been accommodating?" Weiss asked Blake as they wandered through the castle's library.

"Yes, the guest rooms are rather large, but Yang has taken the liberty of setting up a small workshop with that space," she told her then looked around the room, seeing nobody around. "Hopefully, the security has improved since the last time I was here. The White Fang was able to get in rather easy, but then again, that was because a decent amount of the royal guard was with your father."

"I've already talked with Ironwood and the Spymaster about the threat. They're confident that the castle is defended enough. Though, that doesn't mean I'm not preparing for the worst," she said as she gestured towards the rapier on her belt, "after all, Fort Mantle was considered impenetrable. So, I'd rather we not have the mages travel alone, especially since the cult is coming after me."

"Don't worry, we won't let them lay a hand on you, or Yang."

"I know that was meant to be comforting, but I still have a bad feeling about this whole situation," she told her then paused for a moment to think. "How good are you at gathering intel?"

"Reasonably," Blake answered her, "why do you ask?"

"The castle's forces have failed me before when they failed to discover that the former captain hired an assassin to kill me. Perhaps it would be best to find outside help."

"So, you want me to investigate if anyone in the castle is involved in this cult," she deduced, getting a nod from the princess in confirmation.

"Since you are not a mage, and just arrived in Atlas yesterday, it is highly unlikely that you are going to targeted," Weiss said then cursed under her breath, "but you have been seen with Yang, Ruby, and I, so you're also being watched."

"I'm trained in infiltration, Weiss. Changing appearances isn't that difficult of a concept, and someone would have to actually see me."

"Then I guess you will have no problem discovering any enemies and eliminating them."

Blake immediately felt her heartbeat quicken as her hands started to shake. "I-I'm not killing anyone," she managed to say, causing Weiss to look at her and raise an eyebrow. "I-if I kill them, then we cannot interrogate them for any information. Eliminating immediate threats might seem appealing, but information is more appealing considering that your spymaster has little to none."

"You actually have a point," she said resting her hand under her chin. "Then capture anyone that might be a threat. Considering we don't know who might be part of this cult, we aren't going to talk about this arrangement with anyone outside of this room. Don't even talk about this with Yang or Ruby, we won't know who is listening. We're already taking a risk talking in this location."

"We're alone, I made sure," she told her, gesturing towards her bow that started to wiggle, "and don't worry, I understand discretion." Suddenly, her ears twitched, causing the faunus's head to immediately turn to the door to the library. "Someone's coming."

Pulling the rapier and magic hilt from her belt, Weiss raised the blade in front of herself while preparing to ignite the artifact. "Who is-" The doors were suddenly thrown open by Ruby, followed shortly after by Yang who had to brace against the doorframe to catch her breath. "Ruby?" she asked in confusion, slowly sheathing her weapons. "What's going on?"

"I-I," Ruby only said as a blush formed on her face.

"I'm… swapping travel partners," Yang said in between breaths, looking at Ruby with a cheeky grin.

"Y-yes, that's right," she managed to say, turning back to Weiss. "Yang's going back to her room to… to…"

"To sharpen my sword," she continued for her. "I'd have Ruby help me, but Blake's been my helper for over a year, so she's better for the job than Ruby would."

"Really?" Weiss asked, looking over the three girls. "Well, if Blake can really help you make Ruby's chainmail faster, then she should be with you."

Yang immediately froze as she realized she hadn't measured Ruby yet for her armor before muttering under her breath, "Right, we should probably do that."

"Yes, so I'll be with you while those two get to work," Ruby said, catching Weiss's attention before she could notice Blake's confusion.

"Very well, I have a couple of things I need to pick up from my quarters," Weiss said then started walking past the sisters. Ruby froze for a moment as she started to follow Weiss, but Yang quickly gave her a smile and a thumbs up. The knight smiled then followed her girlfriend down the hall.

"So, what's this about me being a helper?" Blake asked Yang as she walked over to the blonde after the couple was partway down the hall. "The last time I tried to help you, I started a small fire in your uncle's barn."

"Shush, we needed an excuse so Ruby and Weiss could be alone," Yang told her as she finally caught her breath.

"What's going on?" she asked her, only getting a grin in response. "We're not going to our room, are we?"

"Nope," she said with a grin before looking down the hall seeing Weiss and Ruby far enough away. "Come on, we're going to follow them."

* * *

Shortly after entering the room, Weiss made her way over to her desk and began looking for her notebook. Ruby looked out of the doorway and after seeing that nobody was around, closed the door to the room. She then walked further into the room, fidgeting with her hands while avoiding looking at Weiss.

"You know, I never expected that Yang would pick Blake over you to help her make your chainmail," Weiss mentioned while she dug through her desk, pulling out her notebook and flipping to an empty page before writing down a description of the dead woman's body from the day before. "She seemed like all she's wanted to do since she got here was hang onto you, which I don't blame her for. If I hadn't seen my sister or brother for over a year, I'd probably do whatever I could to be around them."

"Yang and I had a little conversation, and I kind of wanted to speak with you, alone," Ruby said, causing Weiss to set down her pen and turn around.

"What about?" she asked her, crossing her arms in front of herself while leaning back in her chair.

"Well, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately… about us," she said, walking over to Weiss, only managing to increase her confusion.

"What about us?" she asked her as Ruby reached over to her side pouch. "We've been doing fine, and I can't think of any problems we've had."

"Weiss, you know I love you, right?"

"Yes, but Ruby, what is this about?"

Ruby took a deep breath as she pulled the small velvet bag from her side pouch and opened it up. "I've been trying to find the right moment to say this, and I just never could because of the things that keep happening to us. First it was the magic test, then it was our journey to the college and the events that happened there, and now it's this cult," she said opening up the bag. "With everything that's been happening, I had the thought that maybe I shouldn't do this, but Yang helped me realize that we're never going have perfect moments. Something is always going to happen, and I know that we will always be there together."

Weiss couldn't help but feel a blush creep onto her face as she listened to Ruby. The younger girl then reached into the bag before pulling out a closed hand. Then, taking a deep breath, she knelt in front of the princess.

"So, what I'm trying to say is," opening her hand, Weiss gasped at the sight of the golden band in Ruby's palm, "Weiss Schnee, will you marry me?"

She felt tears well up in her eyes before suddenly launching herself at Ruby, catching her off guard, as the hug nearly knocked both of them to the floor. "Yes, of course I will," Weiss said then let go of her. Ruby then took the ring from her hand and slid it onto Weiss's left ring finger. At the sight of the ring on her finger, the princess smiled then leaned in to kiss her fiancé. After their kiss ended, she pulled back before resting her forehead on Ruby's. "Is this the thing that's been bothering you for months?"

"A-a little," she said as she blushed.

"Dolt, you could've done this much earlier. My answer would have been no different," she told her then kissed her again for a brief moment. "I love you, Ruby Rose."

Suddenly, the door to the room was thrown open and Blake and Yang landed on the room's floor. The couple quickly looked towards the source of the noise, seeing the other two looking up at them in silence. Yang slowly raised a hand, giving them a thumbs up and a cheeky grin. "Congratulations," she managed to say before groaning as she rolled onto her back.

* * *

 **So... that just happened. In case you couldn't tell, the point where one of the two chapters ended and the other began was after the dead body and before Ruby and Yang at the stables. A bit of a sudden shift, but I felt that it was important enough to include for this arc.**

 **Anyway... RUBY FINALLY PROPOSED! I was really tempted to make the proposal happen later, but then I decided to make it this chapter for reasons I'll explain later.**

 **So, I originally had a certain plot line that was supposed to happen before the proposal, but then I figured, why not just have a happy ending for once instead of a cliffhanger when it comes to Ruby and Weiss's romance. Also, I wasn't going to make a cliffhanger for this chapter for... reasons.**

 **The Cult of the Dragon. Not exactly an original name for a cult, but I figured I'd use it. From these last two chapters it's easy to conclude that they're basically an anti-magic group of people that are very good at not getting caught, killing suspected mages, and they have an effective spy network.**

 **Weiss is employing the services of a ninja, which isn't that bad of an idea. With the Atlesian Guard showing that they have some gaps in their quality, and the Atlesian Spies not being as effective as spies, it wouldn't be terrible that Weiss searched for additional help.**

 **Yang was so close to telling Ruby about Qrow, but you can't exactly blame her for wanting to protect her from the news that they aren't biologically sisters and that their parents have been lying to them her whole life. Though, the longer she waits, the more Ruby is going to be hurt about Yang lying to her.**

 **News on The Princess and the Rose Manga! The first chapter has been completed. Go to manu-chann's DeviantArt page to find it. I will have a link up on my Tumblr tomorrow along with the images. It looks great and you should check it out if you haven't already.**

 **I think there's nothing else I really need to bring up about the chapter, so time to get to the final bit of news.**

 **I'M GOING ON HIATUS! There, all caps, so it's seen by people who are skimming through the AN.**

 **Yes, I'm taking a bit of a break. For a couple of weeks. I've been so worn down that it's been affecting my chapter quality. These last two chapters have been relatively good, but they also have their flaws. So, during my hiatus, I'm going to be doing three things: fixing the last arc, changing Franwell mentions to 'Atlas" or 'the city of Atlas,' and fixing the earlier chapters. There are plenty of spelling mistakes, inconsistencies, plot holes, and excess information that I plan to fix, and during my break I will fix them, on my own time.**

 **Snapple Fact of the Chapter: Nobody reads Snapple Facts unless they themselves have a Snapple in their hands and are looking at the cap.**

 **I will be back when I'm back.**

 **Have a nice day, and thank you all for two years of support in my writing,**

 **-J. Van A**


	88. I'm Back!

**Hello everyone, I am J. Van A and HOLY CRAP I'm back with the newest chapter of The Princess and the Rose. I know I've been gone for a long time, and I have reason's I'll go over at the end so people don't have to scroll past it to get to the story.**

 **So yeah, it's been a while. I will admit I am a bit Rusty, so this chapter won't be AMAZING, but then again, when are they ever? *slaps knee* Oh! Self burn!**

 **One thing if people want to see it. I went back and fixed the College Arc like I wanted. Within chapters 80-85, I fixed a couple of plot holes, made Neo's weapon more deadly, some new scenes were added to fix plot holes, and the final fight was longer than like three paragraphs. I'd recommend going back and reading them, I'm proud of the work I did, though I will admit it's not a perfect fix.**

 **Reviews! (Oh, how I've missed these)**

 **FeartheKnown: I'm sure I've rested enough, though, I probably should've gotten back sooner.**

 **bankerrtx01: It won't be the Red Wedding, but I think everyone here knows nothing good happens without something terrible going down too. though, I haven't exactly worked that far ahead.**

 **jphw: I was actually going to make it happen later after this arc happened, but this part felt a little more natural than what I originally had planned.**

 **MageTGM: *laughing* You said good grammar. *Wipes away tear* Well, I'm sure the last chapter didn't have as many mistakes as the chapters usually had. Kow knows, maybe three months down there'll be another god/dog fiasco I didn't see before.**

 **TheGreenRobotProduct: At least I'm back, even though it took a hell of a long time to get here.**

 **GrnDrgnzrd: I actually saw a good RWBY mmd on youtube called 'Survive the Night' that had a FNaF fan song where Penny was singing the part of Freddy. Also, I'm back! Took longer than I expected.**

 **Xyander64: To be honest, I haven't fully planned out how the cult operates, going more for the write on the fly thing I did before. I did look up the masks and they look pretty cool, but not all the members will be wearing masks, if anything, the main guy will to obscure his identity. the sisters definitely have a serious talk ahead of them, but the real question will be when. I think everyone knows she won't tell Jacques.**

 **MABfan11: Well, to be honest, 300k works is a stretch for me to even consider reading a fanfic. I have seen Re:Zero, but I never really got that far.**

 **seraphimnight: Jaune as a bard was a good idea, but it's too bad I didn't go too far with it. Personally, I'm terrible at writing songs.**

 **Enjoy**

* * *

Ruby opened her eyes, becoming blinded as the rays of light hit her face. She immediately turned her head and saw the sleeping face of Weiss laying next to her. Smiling at her, Ruby turned to lay on her back before raising her left hand in the air, admiring the golden band on her finger.

Then she heard a rustling coming from her side. "Good morning," Weiss said as she opened her eyes and looked at Ruby. The younger girl simply turned to her and gave her a quick kiss. "Quite the greeting."

"So, yesterday was…"

"Quite interesting," she said while looking at the gold ring on her finger. "I never thought you were the one for marriage though. If this entire thing has been a long plan to try and be Queen of Atlas, I'd hate to disappoint you as I don't believe Winter will die anytime soon, nor would the populace accept two queens as their rulers."

"Well, good thing I didn't propose to the Princess of Atlas, I proposed to you."

Weiss was in silent thought for a moment before she smiled and leaned in to kiss her fiancé. After she broke the kiss, she looked past Ruby and saw the sun through the window. "Ruby, what time is it?"

"It's morning," the crimsonette told her while they both sat up in the bed. "I'd assume it's around the time we usually wake up."

"Ruby, my window is on the west side of the castle."

"Oh no," she said while the color drained from her face.

"That's it, I'm not waiting for them any longer!" they heard a voice shout from behind the door. "I'm opening the door!"

"I don't think this is a good idea," a second voice calmly told the first one.

"J'vana be damned," Weiss cursed under her breath as she pulled the blanket up to cover herself.

Ruby jumped out of the bed and started to reach for her cloak. Just as her bare feet touched the floor, the door opened and both Yang and Blake walked in. "Good afterno-OH MY GOD, YOU'RE NAKED!" Yang shouted as she saw the scene in front of her.

Ruby instinctively lunged for her cloak, only to slip on a loose pair of pants on the floor, crashing onto her face and sliding into the dresser that held her cloak. The impact then caused the crimson cloak to slide off the piece of furniture and cover its owner.

"What do think you're doing, you brute!" Weiss shouted at her, trying to hide the blush on her face. "Do you want the whole castle to hear you?"

"I-I," she barely managed to say.

"Don't worry, the hallway was empty," Blake calmly told her, turning away from the girls, and closing the doors. "It appears that the servants of the castle are reducing in number due to the threat of your life."

"That still doesn't mean you can shout as you enter my room," Weiss told them, directing her comment towards the blonde. "What were you even thinking?"

"It felt like it's been almost five months since we saw you last. I couldn't wait any longer to see Ruby, alright," Yang defended herself while crossing her arms and turning away from the princess.

"It was barely even a day, surely you could have waited for us to leave when we were ready," she told her, reaching over to grab a folded robe from her nightstand and pull it on. "At the very least, you could have knocked on the door and given us a chance to make ourselves decent."

"Trust me, if I could change what I had done, I would do it," she said, placing a hand on the nearby counter. "Blake and I will leave and wait for you and Ruby to get… wait, Ruby!" The three girls immediately turned to look at the younger one whom had yet to move since hitting the table.

* * *

"Honestly, Yang, I'm fine," Ruby told her sister as the elder one kept parting her hair to look at the previously wounded area while the four walked down the hall. "Since Weiss used her healing magic soon enough after the injury, there isn't even a scar."

"Still, you were knocked out, and we only just got back together, so I can't have you dying on me," Yang said as she pulled Ruby into a hug and lifted her off the ground as they walked.

"Yang, put me down!" she nearly shouted at her sister. "I'm not a child anymore. I'm a knight of Atlas and I have to be at least somewhat professional."

"Yang, you should probably listen to her," Blake interjected, reaching out a hand to place on the blonde's shoulders only to have the brawler move out of reach. She was about to try again before Weiss stopped her. Confused, she looked at the princess only to see a smirk on her face.

"Ruby, you'll always be a child to me," Yang said with a smile while she happily swung the younger girl around.

"Yang, come on." Ruby began to struggle against the brawler's strength, barely managing to turn slightly. Using this movement, she caused Yang to drift towards the wall of the hallway and barely managed to hook her scythe on the doorframe. This caused Yang to stumble slightly allowing Ruby to place her feet against the ground before leaning forward and grabbing her sister's arm.

Watching the world appear to slow down, Ruby started to spin around at high speeds causing Yang's grip to loosen. As soon as the grip lessened enough, the reaper stopped for a moment before throwing her sister over her shoulder and slamming her onto the floor in front of her. Then time seemed to return to normal as she stood back up.

"Nice one," Yang groaned while picking herself off the ground only to stop for a moment and see Ruby extend a hand to help her up. "I haven't seen that move before. Where'd you learn it?"

"I learned it from Mercury," she told her as she smirked with her hands on her hips. "During our journey back from the North, he thought it was a good idea to teach me some close quarters combat. Though, he only taught me a couple of moves like throwing someone over my shoulder."

"He also tried to teach Penny and I those moves, but I froze his body in a block of ice and Penny simply evaded him," Weiss interjected just as the group reached a connecting hallway. "It was rather interesting, but I didn't learn it." She then walked ahead and stopped in front of the group before facing them. "Now then, I think it's best we split up for now. Yang, you and Ruby will go wherever you need to in order to take measurements and begin making Ruby's chainmail. Blake and I will make our way to the library." Her demeanor suddenly shifted to a serious one as she looked over to the blonde. "Yang, under no circumstances are you to be alone. This cult is specifically targeting mages, so neither one of us should be alone."

"I know, don't worry," Yang said with a smirk as she shrugged. "While I doubt any of these cultists infiltrated the castle, if any did, Ruby and I can handle them pretty easily."

"Regardless, we should be on guard," Blake said while she walked over to Weiss. "This castle has been infiltrated before, so anything can happen."

"Alright, you don't have to keep lecturing me." Yang waved them off and turned around, wrapping an arm around Ruby's shoulder and looked at her. "Come on, sis, let's go see what kind of forge this place has. It'll be some sisterly quality time."

Since Ruby was looking forward, she didn't notice, but Blake saw for a brief moment that Yang's eyes flashed to a blue. Clenching her jaw for a moment, she raised a closed fist up to her chest before turning around. "What's with that look?" Weiss asked her, causing Blake to lower her hand and step back.

"What? What look?" she asked, looking away for a moment to regain her composure. "There's no look."

She simply raised an eyebrow. "You're hiding something, Blake Belladonna. This had better not be another dramatic secret," Weiss told her as she started walking away. "I'd rather we not deal with a Remnant shattering secret as we deal with this cult."

"It's nothing like that," Blake answered her while following the princess.

"Fine, I'll drop it, for now," Weiss said then turned around a corner and looked around, making sure they were alone. "So, have you thought at all about our arrangement?"

"With the decreased staff, it narrows down possible suspects," she answered after listening intently to the area for any small noises. "After I obtain my disguise, it'll be rather easy to investigate."

"Very well, since it is already late, I don't expect you to begin today. Tomorrow, I'll find some way to entertain Ruby and Yang, so you can work."

* * *

"Yang, stop, that tickles," Ruby barely managed to say while laughing as she tried to escape the measuring rope around her abdomen.

"You haven't had to go through measurement before, have you?" Yang asked her, listening to her sister laughing while taking measurements.

"No, dad just had a suit of chainmail made for me," she said, catching her breath after Yang finished measuring Ruby's hips. "It was somewhat loose for a time. Then a few months after Fort Mantle it fit perfectly, but after that it was too tight. Luckily, I didn't need my chainmail very often, and I even salvaged some of it to make gloves."

"Look at you, becoming a blacksmith all on your own!" she exclaimed, lightly hitting Ruby's shoulder only managing to confuse the girl. "Don't think I didn't notice you modified your armor pieces in your own time. I'm sure dad would be proud."

"Come on, my skills aren't that good."

"You're good, but not as good as me." She smirked as she continued taking measurements of Ruby's legs. "Now the real question is who would win in a fight, you or me?"

"Yang, we're not doing this now."

"Oh yes, we're doing this now," Yang said as she finished her measurements and turned around to write them down. After she was done writing them down, she looked back up at her sister and raised an eyebrow. "Come on, we haven't sparred since before we left Patch. I want to see if you've gotten any better. You might even win this time."

"I would've won last time if you didn't throw that boulder."

"You should be fast enough to dodge a rock."

"I was barely three feet away, and you almost broke Crescent Rose!" she nearly yelled at her before they both heard the door to the forge open.

"Red, I've told you before that the castle blacksmith doesn't like you being here. He says your fascination with the weapons scares him sometimes," a man said entering the room. The girls immediately turned to see Mercury just as he noticed Yang. "Oh, I didn't know someone else was here. So, who is this?"

"Mercury, this is my sister, Yang. She's the one I've telling you about," she explained to him as the man walked over to them.

"She's your sister, really?" he asked, not noticing the older girl looking away. "You know, from all the times you explained her to me… well, I thought at least you'd have the same hair color. Are you sure she's your sister?"

"She's my half-sister," she explained as Yang fiddled with her fingers, keeping her eyes closed. "We have the same dad."

"Well then, if she is the same person you've been telling me about, then I'm incredibly interested in her fighting ability," he said with a smirk causing both girls to immediately look at him.

"You want to fight me?" Yang asked him with a skeptical look on her face. "Seriously?"

"Yes, you're an accomplished brawler and I heard that during the Battle of Fort Mantle you fought the Witch of the Wilds," he explained as he walked over to her. "Also, it's interesting that for a mage, you can so easily walk around Atlas. From what I've heard, you're rather carefree about using your magic."

"I am not carefree about using my magic," she told him, her eyes shifting to red as she stood up and glared at him. "If you want to fight, then let's fight."

"Yang, I don't think this is a good idea," Ruby interjected, "his boots are-"

"Just shiny pieces of metal," she interrupted her.

"Seriously, it's something you should-"

"Red, don't spoil the surprise," he said with a smirk low enough so only she could hear. He then turned his attention back to Yang. "So, Blondie, shall we do this?"

* * *

Blake quickly exited the maids' barracks carrying a small bundle of clothes that she placed in a bag. "So, your plan is to disguise yourself as one of the maids?" Weiss asked her as she walked over to the faunus from her spot she kept watch. "Not exactly a creative disguise."

"It's a rather useful disguise. Nobody bothers to remember the servants," Blake explained to her as the two started walking down the hall. "Especially royalty."

"That is simply not true."

Blake looked at her skeptically and raised an eyebrow. "Name one servant of the castle that isn't the Schnee family's personal butler."

"I-I…" she managed to say before falling silent to think for a moment, "well, you have me there. You can't expect me to remember the names of all the servants at the castle."

"I don't expect you to remember all of them, just maybe a couple," she told her as they approached an intersecting hallway.

"A noble need not concern themselves with those who serve them," a voice said from ahead of them. They looked to the voice's origin and saw Whitley and two armored knights walk towards them. "Hello, sister."

"Whitley, I did not know you were still in the castle," Weiss said in mild shock. "If I had, I certainly would have visited you sooner."

"Father would not have let me leave the castle with him to meet with Winter, and you were off galivanting in the North. So, at least one member of the royal family needs to remain at the castle," he said with a bit of distain in his voice that Weiss picked up on.

"As much as I dislike the rules of the royal family, someone needed to remain here in case something was to happen to the rest of us."

"Like what happened with the White Fang?"

"Those were different circumstances, Whitley, and you know it," she told him, trying not to raise her voice at him. "You wished to travel with father to Fort Mantle to tinker with your inventions with the help of the blacksmiths. I remained at the castle and when mother… passed on, I needed to make my way own way to the fort."

"I completely understand, dear sister," he said raising his hands in the air. "Though, something I don't understand is how you managed to find your way in Vale for several months and accumulate… _allies_."

"Allies that were crucial in the battle," she reminded him.

"I am not doubting you, sister," he said with a smirk. "After all, I was thoroughly impressed with the Invincible Girl and the descendant of the White Dragon of War. Now, if only they would have joined the Atlesian army, then they would have at least made more respectable knights than your friend."

Weiss scowled then moved close to Whitley before whispering, "I would advise that you watch your tongue before you talk about Ruby. You may be my brother, but that will not matter if you speak ill of her." She took a step back and gestured for him to leave. "Now, Whitley, go and tinker away with your contraptions."

"Of course, dear sister," he said as he walked past her, "but I hope you understand that I bear no ill will towards your friend. She is a fine knight, but you must admit she could be more… knightly." With that, he simply nodded his head slightly to her before walking past with his two knights down the hallway.

"The nerve…" she muttered to herself. After they were out of earshot, Weiss turned to Blake. "So, why didn't you say anything?"

Blake seemed somewhat startled at the sudden attention drawn towards her. "Oh, I would much rather not join in a familial squabble, especially a royal one," she said taking a step to the center of the hall.

"Fair point, but still." Blake simply shrugged in response before walking down the corridor.

* * *

In the castle training grounds, Mercury and Yang stood twenty paces from each other, watching each watching the other intently. Mercury was wearing his usual outfit along with the enchanted grey jacket he favored. Yang was wearing her full suit of armor, making sure to have her hair in its ponytail so it didn't interfere with her ōdachi. The only other people in the area were a couple of knights either coming back from guard duty or just leaving the barracks, and sitting on a nearby bench was Ruby looking incredibly nervous at the sight in front of her.

"Don't worry, Ruby, I'll be alright," Yang said giving her a cocky grin as she turned her attention back to Mercury while slamming her fists together to create a barrier before reaching up to grasp her ōdachi's hilt. "I'll have you know, I'm not just a brawler."

"A sword makes not difference," he said in response, getting into a fighting stance. "I've fought against swordsmen and won. It doesn't matter how good you are with a blade, I will win."

"You must understand, I'm giving you a handicap."

"Are you sure that's in your best interest, Blondie?" he asked her while Yang twisted the blade in its hilt to draw the weapon.

' _They are so much alike,'_ Ruby thought to herself as she gave them a nervous smile.

Yang ran forward, preparing her weapon to swing, but Mercury jumped forward before spinning in the air to strike. She managed to redirect her sword just in time to catch his boots and block the attack. Placing one hand against the blade, she began to slowly drag her gauntlet against it causing a red flame to coat the weapon before swinging it at the kickboxer.

Mercury jumped back just in time to avoid the sword's reach. He then jumped again, managing to pass just over the blade. Just as he landed, he simply smirked at the blonde and lunged forward. Before she could react, he kicked at her, catching her in her side. She was suddenly shocked to watch as the barrier around herself appeared before being pulled off her body and into Mercury's boots.

"What just happened?" Yang asked him as she watched the man jump back, a barrier appearing over his body. "You're a mage"

"The only mage around here is you," he answered her. "I simply borrowed your barrier."

"How?"

"Well, Red tried to warn you," he said then launched himself forward with a spinning kick, kicking Yang's ōdachi, making sure his boots connected with the flames. The red fire quickly flowed from the sword and coated his left boot before his right boot knocked the weapon out if her hand. Landing back on the ground, he got back into a fighting stance, smirking at the brawler. "Now that your handicap's gone, let's see how well you really fight."

"Your boots, they can absorb magic," Yang concluded as she stepped back and raised her fists. "You also go for a surprise attack to catch your enemy off guard, absorbing their barrier."

"You're quick on the take," he said with mild amusement in his voice. "Most of the time, mages tend not to wear armor, so these boots are effective weapons."

"Since you rely on surprise attacks, all I really have to do is keep you close," she said, slamming her fists together causing a yellowish light to spread over her body.

"I don't think putting a barrier around yourself is a good idea."

"Who said anything about the barrier being around myself?" Yang asked him with a smirk before slamming a foot on the ground. Separating her fists and bringing them to her side, the barrier around herself expanded into a small dome. Opening her hands, she slapped them together causing the dome to expand to trap Mercury.

"You've still given me enough space for launching attacks," he said positioning himself in a running stance.

"I know," she told him, "but the plan was to get you in the barrier first." Curling her fingers back into a fist, she brought her hands back down to her sides causing the dome to shrink. As the barrier shrunk, the borders hit Mercury, catching him by surprise before dragging him across the ground closer to Yang till it shrunk down to roughly five meters. "Now you can't run anywhere."

Placing both hands against the ground, he pushed himself backwards to get back on his feet. "There is something you should probaly know, my fighting strategy isn't just surprise attacks," he said getting back into a fighting stance.

"I didn't expect it to be, but now we're on equal ground," she told him as she raised her fists and began bouncing side to side.

Pivoting on his right foot, Mercury swung his flame covered boot at her in a high kick. Raising her arm in response, Yang managed to block the boot, engulfing it in flames. Immediately, she thrusted her other fist forward, hitting him in the chest and shattering the barrier he absorbed from her. Quickly pulling her fist back, she thrusted her fist forward again for a less powerful punch and hit him in the chest again.

While she was expecting the punch to have thrown him back several feet, Mercury seemed fine. "Impact absorption enchantment, courtesy of the mage's college," he said using his leg to knee her in the abdomen, staggering her before stepping back. He then jabbed his right leg at her in a flurry of kicks, every other one creating a small explosion against her.

Jumping in the air, he kicked at her with both feet, causing magic to flow into his boots before using Yang to launch himself to the back of the barrier. She quickly closed the distance, cocking back her fist to throw a punch, but Mercury simply pivoted on his foot before thrusting his other foot forward to block Yang's attack. As soon as the pieces of metal connected, a large fireball exploded, throwing both combatants into the barriers.

While Yang was picking herself up, she was watching Mercury do the same. Then she noticed the man reach up and wipe sweat from his brow. Reaching up, she wiped her own brow only to notice she had barely even broken a sweat. With that, she stood up and smiled before snapping her fingers.

Confused at what he was seeing, Mercury had barely enough time to dodge the small fireball that landed at his feet. He quickly retorted by jabbing his charged boot at her causing a large fireball to be thrown at her, engulfing the blonde in flames.

After the fire subsided, she simply slapped her hands together before throwing both fireballs at the ground, forcing the dome to be filled with flames. Before the fire subsided, Mercury launched himself through the flames and kicked Yang in the face, throwing her into the ground.

While she was laying on the ground, Yang quickly drew a circle on the ground before drawing a ten-pointed star through it. Placing a hand over the sigil, she channeled magic into it causing the flames remaining in the dome to burn at a much higher intensity. Before Mercury could even react, he began breathing heavily and cough. Just as he took a step forward, the kickboxer suddenly collapsed.

Soon after, both the barrier and flames dissipated revealing both combatants laying on the ground. Ruby quickly ran towards the two, feeling the intense heat as she walked onto scorched ground. She placed a hand onto her sister's shoulder to roll her onto her back. "Yang, what were you thinking?" she asked her, noticing both Yang and Mercury were slowly picking themselves up.

"I'm… a pyromancer," she told her between breaths. "So, I'm naturally resistant to fire and heat. With the addition of my chainmail, I have even a higher resistance to fire. I noticed Mercury begin to sweat so I figured I'd overwhelm him, especially since he has those enchanted items."

"Smart strategy," Mercury said, pulling himself up into a sitting position. "What was that last bit there? You did something to make the fire hotter."

"Sigils. They can be used to amplify my magic or various things like making traps," Yang answered him, pointing to the sigil she drew. "That one just intensified my flames."

"Sigils, barriers, and pyromancy," he said as he stood up then smirked. "Good to know."

* * *

It was later that night the four of them regrouped, entering Yang and Blake's room. It was a rather simple room compared to Weiss's. There were two beds with a nightstand between them and on the other end of the room were two separate wardrobes near a table with four chairs. In the corner of the room was a pile of raw metals, sheets of chainmail, half-made weapons, and an anvil.

"So, what did you two do today?" Weiss asked Ruby and Yang as she and Blake walked over to the table and sat down across from each other.

"Yang took my measurements then decided it was a good idea to fight Mercury," Ruby told them while she sat down next to Weiss.

"You really are a brute," she directed towards the blonde as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Please tell me he at least beat her."

"Actually, I beat him," Yang told her with a cocky grin. "He thought he was clever with his fancy boots and jacket, but It was rather easy."

"No," Weiss said in disbelief.

"What?"

"No, it can't be."

"What's wrong with her?" Yang asked, looking to her sister.

"She's probably just mad because she fought Mercury before and he beat her easily," Ruby explained with an amused look on her face.

"Ha! I'm better than Miss Perfect!" she exclaimed as she sat down.

"Yeah, better at _one_ thing, and it's punching things," Weiss said as she crossed her arms.

"Also, blacksmithing."

" _Two_ things," she muttered.

"And better magic."

"You take that back!" she snapped at her.

Blake leaned forward, ignoring the argument taking place next to her. "Please tell me this isn't going to be a thing with them?" she asked Ruby, getting her attention.

"I hope not. I've had to deal with Mercury and Logan for the last five months," she told her as she reached to her belt. "I don't want to listen to constant fighting again."

"I can't agree more," she said then looked to the back of Ruby's belt and saw the girl's crossbow. "I'm sure Yang's told you, but I've actually taken up archery recently."

"We're not doing this," Ruby said with a serious look on her face, but after a moment the girls smiled at each other and began laughing. "So, I've never really been that good with longbows. How fast can you fire off arrows?"

"It honestly depends on how accurately I'm aiming," Blake told her as she and Ruby leaned back in their chairs.

While Ruby and Blake were having their pleasant conversation, Yang and Weiss were now standing several paces from each other. The white-haired girl raised her hands as if she was holding her rapier, then focused her magic into her left hand before placing it against the ground causing a white dome of magic to appear around herself. Yang slammed her fists together, creating a barrier around herself before bringing her fists down to her sides causing her barrier to expand into a large dome.

"Well, would you look at that, mine's bigger," Yang said with a smile before looking off to the side. "Not that it's at all surprising."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss nearly yelled at her.

* * *

 **Alright, and that's the chapter. You know, I only realized it now, but Ruby was barely in the focus.**

 **I figured I'd start the chapter off with a bit of humor, so why not Yang and Blake walking in on an embarrassing situation, sort of to break the ice of my hiatus.**

 **Yang and Mercury meet, and chaos was left in its wake. I figured I'd have a little fight between them, and it certainly would give Mercury to get an idea on Yang's abilities.**

 **Whitley is a twit. I wanted to do something with him for a while so he was more of a character, so I went with the flow, and I want to go into my fanfic's universe to slap the bastard child. Foreshadowing? Probably not. I also figured I'd include the 'Tinker away with your inventions' bit to give him some of a character. Now just how long until we see these inventions? (I honestly don't know)**

 **Then we finish the chapter with some comedy. I thought it'd be funny to have a 'mine's bigger than yours' joke because that sounds like something Yang would do.**

 **Anyway, so get to the reason why my hiatus took so long.**

 **In March, I was in a serious testing time before finals, so I needed the additional time for schoolwork. Then my grandmother passed away just before finals, so I fell into a bit of a depression streak. Then I couldn't attend the funeral because of various reasons, so that just knocked me down a couple more pegs. Finals then came around, so I needed to focus on them, which was difficult because of depression. Then after the college semester was over, I was still depressed and when I tried to get back into writing, I had a bad case of writer's block.**

 **The depression persisted, and I decided that I would try and get a job for the summer. A couple of months and plenty of failed interviews later, I wasn't exactly doing the best. I got back into writing, so I had that going for me. Then recently, I got a job, so I'm fine on that front. I have about a month before school starts again, so hopefully I can write more.**

 **TL;DR I'm Back! I should be able to post almost weekly. To be honest, my writer's block isn't completely gone, so I don't know how consistent I will be.**

 **Special thanks to Knowledgeseeker66 for helping me out for the last couple months. Without them I probably would've enacted my 'Doomsday Protocol' which is literally delete everything and quit writing.** **Also, another unexpected special thanks to, and I'm not kidding, imnotstupiz on Tumblr, who basically gave me a kick in the rear that made me get back to writing. Feel free to thank these two for my return if you want.**

 **Now then, I've incredibly missed this part.**

 **Have a nice day,**

 **-J. Van A**


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